Complete Degradation of a High-Performance Epoxy Thermoset Enabled by ?-ray-Sensitive Motifs Based on the Cascaded Synergetic Strategy br

gamma-Radiation derived from clean energy has emergedas a promising technology for disposal of waste plastics. However,due to radical-mediated uncontrolled recombination, a foremostchallenge remains in radiation-triggered complete degradation forthermoset plastics. Herein, the radiation-sensitive epoxy thermoset(EP-DESN) containing phenyl imine-conjugated N-N bonds(PINN bonds) and S-S bonds was designed to initiate rapiddegradation at a dose of 10 kGy. The phenyl imine-conjugatedlinkages can stabilize the radiation-induced broken N-N bonds,overcoming radical-mediated uncontrolled recombination andcross-linking. Moreover, the phenyl-iminyl-conjugated radicalsgenerated by PINN bond scission can cleave the active S-Sbonds to promote subsequent spontaneous degradation for maximum degradation efficiency. Meanwhile, EP-DESN exhibitedsuperior thermal robustness and chemical resistance comparable to some conventional high-performance epoxy thermosets. UsingEP-DESN as a binder, we prepared recyclable carbonfiber-reinforced composites, and nondestructive recycling of value-addedcarbonfiber (CF) is achieved, thus facilitating the concept of a circular CF economy