The Polymer Society of Korea

Abstract

The transition toward sustainable polymer materials requires innovative strategies that integrate eco-friendly design with high-performance functionality. Citric acid (CA), a renewable organic acid, offers unique opportunities in both catalysis and structural design of sustainable polyesters. A hybrid catalyst from CA enables water tolerant system that was highly disadvantageous in every polyester system, while the incorporation of citric acid into the polymer main chain enhances overall performance. Also, the multifunctional nature of citric acid facilitates the formation of three-dimensional polymer architectures, yielding unprecedented networked biodegradable polyesters with tunable degradation profiles. Our findings demonstrate that citric acid, when strategically employed as both a catalytic component and a structural element, can open new avenues for high-performance, sustainability-driven polyester materials.