Green and sustainable natural derived polysulfides for a broad range of applications

The significance of the development of green and natural product-derived materials is increasing rapidly due to the negative impact of petroleum-based materials on the environment. Polysulfides are an important group of polymeric materials produced from the copolymerization of elemental sulfur or inorganic polysulfides with organic comonomers with different functional groups such as alkenes, alkyl halides, aryl halides, thiiranes, benzoxazines, and mercaptans. The presence of these functional groups in natural compounds, or derivatization of natural compounds with these functional groups, makes them suitable precursors for copolymerization with sulfur to produce green and renewable polysulfides. These natural product-based polysulfides with excellent self-repairing properties have found a broad range of applications in energy storage, agriculture, medicine, water remediation, and adhesive materials. In this review, the strategies for the fabrication of bio-based polysulfides are discussed in detail and the application of these polysulfides is discussed briefly. Additionally, the remaining challenges and possible pathways for the fabrication of novel types of polysulfides in future research are discussed. The review discusses the fabrication strategies for bio-based polysulfides as well as their applications in lithium-sulfur batteries, heavy metal removal, agriculture, water/oil separation, and as Portland cement alternatives.