Recyclable, repairable and malleable bio-based epoxy vitrimers: overview and future prospects

The extensively used petroleum-based epoxy thermosets suffer from difficulty in recycling (reprocessing, self-healing, or welding) and biodegradation due to their permanent crosslinking network, which not only causes massive consumption of petroleum resources and shorted lifespan of epoxy thermosets, but also leads to serious environmental burden after discarding. Bio-based epoxy vitrimers with reversible dynamic covalent networks are competitive alternatives, which offer the advantages of robustness like thermosets and closed-loop recycling similar to thermoplastic, and thus agree well with the idea of carbon neutrality and sustainable development. Here, we reviewed the progress in the design and properties of bio-based epoxy vitrimers with different dynamic bonds and diverse biomass feedstock in the past two years, and also highlighted the major challenges and future prospects.