Hyun Suk Wang received his B.Eng and M.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Korea University. He then obtained his PhD at ETH Zurich under the supervision of Prof. Athina Anastasaki as a Swiss Government Excellence Scholar. During his PhD, Hyun Suk’s research revolved around the chemical recycling of polymers synthesized by controlled and free radical polymerization. In 2024, he was awarded the Swiss Chemical Society MatChem PhD Student Award for the best thesis in materials chemistry.

2025 NASA Symp

Depolymerizing polymethacrylates synthesized by controlled and free radical polymerization

The depolymerization of vinyl polymers is a promising approach to advance chemical recycling. However, conventional approaches involve extreme temperatures (typically >400 °C), leading to high energy consumption and side reactions. Here, we demonstrate a low-temperature approach for (1) the uncontrolled and controlled depolymerizations of polymethacrylates synthesized by reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization and (2) the depolymerization of commercial polymethacrylates (e.g. Plexiglas). These strategies not only enable mild chemical recycling but also offer valuable insight into polymer characterization.