We report two sustainable features in this work. The first feature is that we successfully applied wasted polycarbonate (WPC) as an epoxy curing agent for epoxy resins to prepare WPC-cured epoxy thermosets. The curing of WPC and epoxy is based on the reaction of a carbonate and an epoxide, which is proven by a model reaction of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) and glycidyl phenyl ether (GPE) in the presence of a catalytic amount of 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP). The WPC-cured epoxy thermosets show comparable thermal properties to commercial-based, phenol novolac (PN)-cured epoxy thermosets. Interestingly, the films of WPC-cured epoxy thermosets are foldable, while those of PN-cured epoxy thermosets are brittle, demonstrating the advantage of using WPC as a curing agent over PN. Since the WPC was used directly without any digestion or pyrolysis process, the atomic efficiency is 100%, making this WPC recycling strategy economically attractive. The second feature is that we successfully degraded the WPC-cured epoxy thermosets to phenoxy resins through a catalyst-free aminolysis process, that is, the products based on the WPC-cured epoxy thermosets are degradable when their lifespans are expired. The transformation of WPC into epoxy thermosets, along with the degradation of the epoxy thermosets, makes this work attractive for sustainability.

中文翻译：

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将废聚碳酸酯完全转化为环氧热固性材料的原子效率，以及无催化剂降解热固性材料，实现环境可持续性

我们报告了这项工作的两个可持续性特征。我们的第一个特点是，我们成功地将废聚碳酸酯（WPC）作为环氧树脂的环氧固化剂，以制备WPC固化的环氧热固性塑料。WPC和环氧树脂的固化基于碳酸盐和环氧化物的反应，这通过碳酸二苯酯（DPC）和缩水甘油基苯基醚（GPE）在催化量的4-二甲基氨基吡啶（ DMAP）。WPC固化的环氧热固性材料与可商用的苯酚酚醛清漆（PN）固化的环氧热固性材料具有可比的热性能。有趣的是，WPC固化的环氧热固性薄膜可折叠，而PN固化的环氧热固性薄膜较脆，这表明与PN相比，使用WPC作为固化剂具有优势。由于WPC无需任何消化或热解过程即可直接使用，原子效率为100％，使这种WPC回收策略在经济上具有吸引力。第二个特点是，我们通过无催化剂的氨解过程成功地将WPC固化的环氧热固性树脂降解为苯氧基树脂，也就是说，基于WPC固化的环氧热固性树脂的产品在使用寿命到期时可降解。WPC向环氧热固性材料的转变以及环氧热固性材料的降解，使这项工作对可持续性具有吸引力。