Alcoholysis of fluoroalcohol: Transforming epoxy waste into materials with high electrical treeing resistance

To address the environmental challenges posed by non-recyclable epoxy resin, an alcoholysis-based chemical recycling method is developed. In this work, 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol is employed to degrade epoxy resin under mild conditions, and the generated fluorinated ester molecule (FEM) and polyol are subsequently used to synthesize a re-prepared epoxy resin (REP). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy confirms the successful incorporation of FEM. The reconstituted resin exhibits significantly enhanced resistance to electrical treeing relative to the original epoxy resin (OEP). In contrast to the slender and elongated tree channels in OEP, REP has dense and bifurcated tree structures concentrated near the needle tip. Mechanistic analysis reveals that FEM introduces interfacial charge-trapping barriers, impeding charge migration and mitigating molecular chain damage. This strategy demonstrates both environmental sustainability and functional enhancement, effectively upcycling epoxy waste into high-performance insulating materials for high-voltage applications.