Grand challenges in polymers

Abstract

In recent years, we have witnessed a considerable diversification in the field of polymer science. On the side of fundamental research in polymer chemistry, the “hot topics” of the last decade include smart and responsive, possibly self-healing polymers, sequence-controlled polymers for e.g., information storage, and the increasingly large cut-set with the life sciences, such as peptide/protein mimetics. In the physics domain, the properties of self-organized nanostructured polymers and nanocomposites, semiconducting polymers, polymers at interfaces, and a better understanding of branched or crosslinked topologies may be mentioned. All these exciting developments have only partially addressed the need for innovations in the fields of commodity and engineering plastics as well as of thermosets and rubbers, which are naturally developed in the more applied disciplines and of course in industrial research. Improved polymeric materials are pivotal for cornerstone technologies such as electric mobility or additive manufacturing, where inexpensive high-performance construction materials, possibly as lightweight composites, have never been at a higher demand. This perspective elaborates on a few of the above-mentioned topics from a very personal standpoint, circling around the latter challenge, which brings us to the possibly most pressing question in current polymer science: How can we as scientists contribute to moving away from often single-use throwaway products and downcycling at best to a fully sustainable, cyclic plastics economy? In the end, I will give a perspective on important contributions that polymer physics and theory may be able to provide, in particular for the foundations of the life sciences.