Work

High-performance bio-based epoxy thermosets with tunable degradability enabled by rigid-flexible synergistic design

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Traditional petroleum-based epoxy thermosets rely on non-renewable fossil resources, and their permanently crosslinked networks lead to intractable disposal and recycling challenges, posing severe environmental concerns. Herein, we develop a high-performance bio-based epoxy thermoset through synergistic design of rigid-flexible chains, which is synthesized from copolymerization of rigid bio-derived furan-based diglycidyl ester (DGF) and flexible bio-derived aliphatic 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDGE). Benefiting from the synergistic roles of rigid skeletons and flexible segments, the resulting DGF/BDGE epoxy thermoset exhibits superior mechanical performance with broad tunability. Specifically, the optimal DGF-20/BDGE epoxy thermoset achieves a tensile strength of 88.5 MPa and exceptional adhesion performance across a wide temperature range, as reflected by high lap shear strengths of 6.4 MPa at 100 °C and 16.0 MPa at −50 °C. Furthermore, the DGF-20/BDGE thermoset displays excellent hydrolytic stability in aqueous environments yet undergoes facile degradation in methanol. This work offers a sustainable route to develop high-performance degradable bio-based thermosets.

Source: Composites Communications

DOI: 10.1016/j.coco.2026.102896