Study on vanillin triggered degradable epoxy via facile one-pot synthesis

A facile one-pot synthesis method to prepare degradable epoxy materials is introduced in this study. Rather than elaborately preparing new epoxies or hardeners, this method developed here is based on a conventional epoxy-amine system, which has better adaptability. Vanillin, a bio-based chemical was selected to trigger the degradation by reacting with epoxy and amine to generate Schiff base linkage. The fabricated degradable materials show comparable thermal, mechanical and insulating properties with their amine-cured counterpart, therefore can be applied as an eco-friendly substitute. A high degradation rate was achieved at a specific acid/organic solvent ratio, while the materials display admirable acidic resistance under other circumstances, which is beneficial for practical application.