Jiang Yuting, Zhang Huiyan, Hong Longfei, Shao Jingjing, Zhang Bowen, Yu Jiajun, Chu Sheng
Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, Southeast University School of Energy and Environment, Nanjing, 210096, P. R. China.
ChemSusChem. 2023 Jul 21;16(14):e202300106. doi: 10.1002/cssc.202300106. Epub 2023 May 17.
Nondegradable polyolefin plastics, which account for >60 % of total plastic waste, trigger severe global concerns and thus demand effective management technologies. However, owing to the chemical inertness of non-polar C-C backbones in the polyolefin structure, efficient upcycling of polyolefin plastics under ambient conditions remains a great challenge. This study introduces an integrated plasma-photocatalytic technology, coupling plasma treatment with solar-driven reforming under mild conditions, for the efficient upcycling of polyolefin plastics into value-added hydrogen and gaseous fuels. The first plasma step grafts oxygenated groups, such as -OH, O-C=O, and C=O, onto the polyolefin chains, which leads to the formation of a polar and hydrophilic polymer that facilitates the subsequent reforming in the photocatalytic step. Therefore, high hydrogen production activity with a benchmark efficiency of >100 μmol g h was achieved. Moreover, the integrated process also demonstrates high versatility in upcycling different polyolefin plastics including polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride. The findings provide a new avenue for plastic upcycling in an efficient and sustainable way.
不可降解的聚烯烃塑料占塑料垃圾总量的60%以上，引发了全球的严重关注，因此需要有效的管理技术。然而，由于聚烯烃结构中非极性C-C主链的化学惰性，在环境条件下对聚烯烃塑料进行高效升级回收仍然是一个巨大的挑战。本研究引入了一种集成的等离子体-光催化技术，在温和条件下将等离子体处理与太阳能驱动的重整相结合，以将聚烯烃塑料高效升级回收为增值氢气和气体燃料。第一步等离子体处理将含氧基团，如-OH、O-C=O和C=O，接枝到聚烯烃链上，这导致形成极性和亲水性聚合物，有利于在光催化步骤中进行后续重整。因此，实现了基准效率>100 μmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹的高制氢活性。此外，该集成工艺在升级回收包括聚乙烯、聚丙烯和聚氯乙烯在内的不同聚烯烃塑料方面也显示出高度的通用性。这些发现为以高效和可持续的方式进行塑料升级回收提供了一条新途径。
