Super-Ductile, Ultra-Tough and High-Impact Polyolefin Alloys
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Polyolefins are the most commonly used synthetic materials in the world. However, unmanaged postconsumer polyolefins dominate global plastic waste, and blending polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) materials (wastes) results in undesirable poor mechanical properties owing to their thermodynamic incompatibility in the melt. Therefore, great challenges remain for the melt-compounding and mechanical recycling of PP and PE to prepare high-performance alloys. Here, we present a series of super-ductile, ultra-tough and high-impact PP/PE alloys with tailor-made hierarchical superstructures from order melts below 190°C. Excellent mechanical properties are achieved by generating stable ordered melts and synergistically controlling polymorphic crystals and intrinsic chain entanglements of the continuous PP phase, (multicore-in-core)-shell multiphase structure of the dispersed PE phase and interfacial networks between the PP/PE phases under directed processing and crystallization conditions. The polyolefin alloys have potential applications in separators for lithium-ion batteries and capacitors as well as lightweight mono-material components and parts for automobile and household appliances. Moreover, the findings provide an innovative and scalable strategy for the physical recycling of waste polyolefins.