About the Lab
The rapidly increasing global production of disposable plastics has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Despite growing public awareness, only about 15% of polymers are recycled, leaving a persistent and toxic footprint in the environment and posing serious risks to global health. Current recycling approaches largely rely on mechanical grinding, which degrades the performance and value of recovered materials. In contrast, chemical recycling that breaks plastic waste down into reusable fragments, or monomers, is widely regarded as essential for achieving true circularity in the plastics lifecycle.
The Shira Haber Lab employs advanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques to elucidate the processes underlying polymer deconstruction into valuable smaller fragments. The goal is to develop innovative strategies for plastic recycling and upcycling, contributing to a more environmentally responsible future.
A key focus of the lab’s work is the design and incorporation of dynamic covalent bond linkers into polymers to enable their efficient deconstruction. Combining thermomechanical characterization with microstructural and morphological analyses helps to better understand the functionality of these new materials. In parallel, NMR‑based monitoring of polymer fragmentation provides critical insights into the mechanisms and kinetics of deconstruction, informing the rational design of more efficient reactions and materials design.
Scholar Profile
Shira Haber’s PhD in Chemistry at the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Department of Molecular Chemistry and Material Science used solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to study how chemical processes at the cathode-electrolyte interface in lithium-ion batteries control ionic transport across interfaces.
Dr. Haber also used NMR to investigate polymer microstructure and deconstruction in her postdoctoral research, which she conducted both in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, and in the Department of Chemistry at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
At Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Chemistry, Dr. Haber continues her NMR research into polymer materials, hoping to better understand material deconstruction, and eventually to replace current recycling efforts with innovative solutions that could propel the field towards a more sustainable future.
