Sustainability in thermoplastic elastomers

Sustainable polymers refer to materials that serve human needs without causing harmful effects on the environment, health, and economy. The concept of sustainability relates to the circular economy, which aims to design materials to reduce the global carbon footprint. Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) possess the processability of thermoplastics and elastomeric characteristics of a rubber, which make them important candidates in several applications, ranging from commodity to biomedical sectors. TPEs are usually the block copolymers possessing hard and soft segments which contribute to their thermoplastic and elastomeric characters, respectively. The current chapter discusses the development of various TPEs possessing partially or fully biodegradable character based on the terminal and mid-blocks used for their synthesis. Linear triblock and multiblock copolymers based on polystyrene, poly(lactic acid), and polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxane as hard segments, and polybutadiene poly(ε-caprolactone), poly(hydroxybutyrate) as soft segments have been illustrated. Further, the applications of TPEs in various sectors have been explored, where soft toys based on TPEs have been commercialized. The use of CO2 as a precursor in the synthesis of TPEs has been demonstrated as a recent advancement.