Qu Menglong, Guo Yani, Cai Yahan, Nie Zhengwei, Zhang Cheng
College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210031, China.
School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China.
Small. 2024 Sep;20(38):e2310273. doi: 10.1002/smll.202310273. Epub 2024 May 25.
The widespread use of plastics, especially polyolefin including polyethylene and polypropylene, has led to severe environmental crises. Chemical recycling, a promising solution for extracting value from plastic waste, however, is underutilized due to its complexity. Here, a simple approach, silicone-assisted direct laser writing (SA-DLW) is developed, to upgrade polyolefin plastic waste into multifunctional porous graphene, called laser-induced graphene (LIG). This method involves infiltrating polyolefins with silicone, which retards ablation during the DLW process and supplies additional carbon atoms, as confirmed by experimental and molecular dynamic results. A remarkable conversion yield of 38.3% is achieved. The upgraded LIG exhibited a porous structure and high conductivity, which is utilized for the fabrication of diverse energy and electronic devices with commendable performance. Furthermore, the SA-DLW technique is versatile for upgrading plastic waste in various types and forms. Upgrading plastic waste in the form of fabric has significantly simplified pre-treatment. Finally, a wearable flex sensor is fabricated on the non-woven fabric of a discarded medical mask, which is applied for gesture monitoring. This work offers a simple but effective solution to upgrade plastic waste into valuable products, contributing to the mitigation of environmental challenges posed by plastic pollution.
塑料的广泛使用，尤其是包括聚乙烯和聚丙烯在内的聚烯烃，已导致严重的环境危机。化学回收作为一种从塑料废料中提取价值的有前景的解决方案，然而，由于其复杂性而未得到充分利用。在此，开发了一种简单的方法，即硅酮辅助直接激光写入（SA-DLW），将聚烯烃塑料废料升级为多功能多孔石墨烯，即激光诱导石墨烯（LIG）。该方法包括用硅酮渗透聚烯烃，实验和分子动力学结果证实，这在直接激光写入过程中会延迟烧蚀并提供额外的碳原子。实现了38.3%的显著转化率。升级后的LIG呈现出多孔结构和高导电性，可用于制造具有优异性能的各种能量和电子设备。此外，SA-DLW技术对于升级各种类型和形式的塑料废料具有通用性。以织物形式升级塑料废料显著简化了预处理。最后，在废弃医用口罩的无纺布上制造了一种可穿戴柔性传感器，用于手势监测。这项工作提供了一种简单而有效的解决方案，将塑料废料升级为有价值的产品，有助于缓解塑料污染带来的环境挑战。
