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Polymer Networks: From Plastics and Gels to Porous Frameworks
Abstract
Polymer networks, which are materials composed of many smaller components—referred to as “junctions” and “strands”—connected together via covalent or non‐covalent/supramolecular interactions, are arguably the most versatile, widely studied, broadly used, and important materials known. From the first commercial polymers through the plastics revolution of the 20 th century to today, there are almost no aspects of modern life that are not impacted by polymer networks. Nevertheless, there are still many challenges that must be addressed to enable a complete understanding of these materials and facilitate their development for emerging applications ranging from sustainability and energy harvesting/storage to tissue engineering and additive manufacturing. Here, we provide a unifying overview of the fundamentals of polymer network synthesis, structure, and properties, tying together recent trends in the field that are not always associated with classical polymer networks, such as the advent of crystalline “framework” materials. We also highlight recent advances in using molecular design and control of topology to showcase how a deep understanding of structure–property relationships can lead to advanced networks with exceptional properties.
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“Existing strategies to create reprocessable thermosets have focused on dynamic covalent bond exchange, 3-8 thermomechanical degradation, 9 or wholesale replacement of network components with degradable versions. 10-13”
From Cleavable comonomers enable degradable, recyclable thermoset plastics (2020) · cites this paper as [4]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gu, Y., Zhao, J., & Johnson, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Johnson, Jeremiah A.
- Venue
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2020-01-15
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 5022-5049
- ISSN
- 1433-7851 (ISSN-L)
- 1521-3773
- OpenAlex
- W3007491983
- Cited by
- 388
- References
- 310
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 87 · 2023: 56 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 35
- FWCI
- 1.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (CHE-1629358, CHE-1832256)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Covalent Organic Framework Applications
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications
- Keywords
- polymer networks, plastics, gels, porous frameworks, supramolecular interactions, covalent networks, structure-property relationships, molecular design, topology control, energy storage, tissue engineering, additive manufacturing
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