ArticleNature communications2021
Giving superabsorbent polymers a second life as pressure-sensitive adhesives.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Mono-Materials Created by Engineering a Continuum of P3HB Stereomicrostructures in a One-Step Catalytic Process.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- The Potential for Reusing Superabsorbent Polymer from Baby Diapers for Water Retention in Agriculture.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Reversible biobased adhesives enable closed-loop engineered composites.Nature communications · 2025Article
- High-performance reversible adhesive from PET waste for underwater, structural, and pressure-sensitive applications.Science advances · 2025Article
- Article
- Diapers to Thickeners and Pressure-Sensitive Adhesives: Recycling of Superabsorbers via UV Degradation.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2023Article
- Bulk Polymerization of Acrylic Acid Using Dielectric-Barrier Discharge Plasma in a Mesoporous Material.Polymers · 2023Article
- Circularity in polymers: addressing performance and sustainability challenges using dynamic covalent chemistries.Chemical science · 2023Review
- Closed-loop chemical recycling of cross-linked polymeric materials based on reversible amidation chemistry.Nature communications · 2022Article
- From disposable diapers to adhesives.Nature chemistry · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
An estimated 6.3 billion metric tons of post-consumer polymer waste has been produced, with the majority (79%) in landfills or the environment. Recycling methods that utilize these waste polymers could attenuate their environmental impact. For many polymers, recycling via mechanical processes is not feasible and these materials are destined for landfills or incineration. One salient example is the superabsorbent material used in diapers and feminine hygiene products, which contain crosslinked sodium polyacrylates. Here we report an open-loop recycling method for these materials that involves (i) decrosslinking via hydrolysis, (ii) an optional chain-shortening via sonication, and (iii) functionalizing via Fischer esterification. The resulting materials exhibit low-to-medium storage and loss moduli, and as such, are applicable as general-purpose adhesives. A life cycle assessment demonstrates that the adhesives synthesized via this approach outcompete the same materials derived from petroleum feedstocks on nearly every metric, including carbon dioxide emissions and cumulative energy demand.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.