Open Innovation Challenge: Debonding on Demand

Adhesives that can be debonded on demand could revolutionize the circular economy by making products easier to dismantle and recycle. Despite numerous attempts, there are still few effective debondable adhesives available on the market.

The Challenge

We seek innovative, out-of-the-box approaches to achieve one of the following two targets for debonding:

Target 1 

We are interested in new chemical strategies for debonding on demand that:

• fit to existing technologies for chemically curing adhesives (Polyurethane, Epoxy, Silicone, Acrylate)
• act on the backbone of the chemical network via reversible or cleavable covalent bonds.
• are economically attractive

Please think beyond well described approaches, such as Diels-Alder based systems, that have shown not to be technically and commercially viable.

Target 2

We are looking for application proposals where debonding on demand can be beneficial in terms of recycling, repair or rework, for instance by

• meeting regulatory requirements
• recovery of high value material
• minimizing waste
• enhancing product lifetime.

Idea submission

Each submission should cover one or more   of the following key points:

• Brief overview of the Idea (One-Pager)  incl. description of the technical concept
• Technical and commercial benefits and limitations of the solution
• Optional: Flowsheets, drawings, examples, or references for the proposed solution or for comparable systems
• Optional: Potential collaboration concept for development, scaling up, testing and implementation

Assessment criteria

The evaluation criteria are defined as follows

For new technical debonding approaches

1. Compatibility with existing adhesive technologies
2. Economical attractiveness, cost and availability of materials as well as manufacturing effort
3. Suitability of the debonding trigger for typical adhesive applications
4. Novelty: already published?

For new debonding applications

1. Moderate lifespan of the product with the bonded parts
2. Regulatory pressure
3. Value (economical or emotional) of bonded parts
4. Accessibility of the adhesives joint
5. Suitable trigger: is the adhesive accessible by a specific trigger  

Timeline for idea submission: June 30th, 2025 

Announcement of the winning concepts: 6 weeks after submission deadline.

Target groups: Everyone is welcome to participate. The intended target groups include students, PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, research and development institutions, start-ups in the fields of organic chemistry, polymer chemistry, economics, chemical economics, as well as professionals in chemistry, biology, and engineering.

Awards: Joint projects to work together on a proof-of-concept: Such a project be at the discretion of both Evonik and the Participant. Evonik reserves the right to enter into any joint project with any Participant. Numerous projects are possible. Each potential project will be assessed individually.

If you need support, please contact us at oi@evonik.com