March 25 2025

Bonds That Matter: Soft Materials for a Sustainable World
 
Soft materials (such as polymers, gels, colloids, and liquid crystals) are composed of relatively large organic molecules governed by weak interactions. These materials display unique properties that render themselves useful to a variety of industries, such as textiles, electronics, packaging, and biomedical devices. As an increasing number of materials are commercialized, sustainability has become an important consideration. Life cycle assessments (LCAs) are often used to evaluate the sustainability of a material from a multitude of angles such as its feedstocks, synthesis, byproducts, processability, recyclability, degradation, sustainability, and environmental impact. Unfortunately, sustainable materials often underperform compared to market standards, which limits their commercial adoption, but this gap is shrinking through cutting edge endeavors spearheaded by academic and industrial researchers.
 
The focus of the symposium is the production of high performance, sustainable soft matter and its role in achieving a circular economy. Specifically, the symposium will have two themes: 1) processing, recycling, and upcycling, and 2) biomass valorization and sustainable feedstocks.