“Yellow Chemistry”: Waste Sulfur Turned into New Plastic
University of Arizona scientists have invented a new plastic they say is ideal for lenses in infrared devices like heat-sensing cameras.
A small group of scientists at the University of Arizona (UA) have been working on “yellow chemistry”, which like the “green chemistry” pursuits of others, promises to benefit the environment but also deliver a new class of inexpensive plastics. “Yellow” here because the material is based on sulfur. The material has properties that makes it ideally suited for use in lenses in infrared devices like heat-sensing cameras. The new hybrid material is called CHIPs—Chalcogenide Hybrid Inorganic-Organic Polymers.
The invention is the result of cross-campus collaboration including lead scientist Jeffrey Pyun, professor in the UA’s Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry; UA optical sciences professor Robert Norwood; and UA chemistry and biochemistry professor Richard Glass. Pyyn discovered the new type of plastic as part of the research on sulfur-based materials for advanced batteries, which started back in 2010. At that time, Pyun and his colleagues were focused on using waste sulfur from the petroleum refining industry as a low-cost feedstock for a new kind of plastic.
