Researchers have developed a method that can help turn plastics into valuable carbon nanomaterials. <\/p>\n
One of the world\u2019s most persistent waste problems, plastics are durable and difficult to recycle.<\/p>\n
Developed by researchers from Adelaide University, the method is a universal and scalable to upcycle common plastics \u2014 including PET, PVC, polyethylene\u00a0and polypropylene and their mixtures \u2014 into single-atom catalysts (SACs).\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project highlights how advanced characterization at the Synchrotron enables breakthroughs in sustainability. By revealing the atomic structure<\/a> of these new catalysts, we helped the team understand why they work so well and how to scale the method,\u201d said Dr Bernt Johannessen, Senior Scientist at the Australian Synchrotron and co-author of the study. The research team revealed that these advanced waste materials contain metal atoms anchored and isolated in a graphene substrate, making them highly efficient in chemical reactions. SACs produced from plastic waste showed excellent performance in breaking down diverse micropollutants in water and in boosting clean-energy technologies such as batteries and fuel cells.\u00a0<\/p>\n At ANSTO\u2019s Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne, researchers used X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) to probe the atomic-scale structure of the catalysts. These measurements confirmed that the metals were not forming nanoparticles but were dispersed as single atoms, chemically bound within the carbon framework in the favourable coordination environment \u2014 the secret sauce to their exceptional performance, according to a press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n Simple and scalable method<\/p>\n Published<\/a> in Nature Communications, the simple and scalable method can transform various types of plastics, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, and their mixtures, into a diversity of porous SACs with different coordination chemistry and their excellent applications in a variety of catalytic reactions.<\/p>\n The research team highlighted that lamellar transition metal chloride salts (Ni, Fe, Co, Mn, and Cu) are employed as a template and catalyst for confined carbonization of plastics into layered SACs. An appropriate plastic-to-salt ratio is the key factor for preventing metal agglomeration during SAC synthesis.<\/p>\n \u201cThe SACs demonstrate exceptional catalytic activity in oxidative degradation of a range of persistent organic pollutants for water treatment and excel in electrocatalytic systems such as oxygen\/nitrogen reduction reactions and lithium-sulfur batteries,\u201d said researchers in the study<\/a>.<\/p>\n Upcycling solid wastes<\/p>\n This technique provides a versatile, scalable, and efficient strategy for upcycling solid wastes into high-performance materials for environmental and energy catalysis, as per the study.<\/p>\n \u201cOur work shows that plastics, which are usually considered a waste and an environmental burden, can actually be a valuable resource for making advanced catalysts. This approach opens a sustainable pathway to address both plastic pollution and the demand for new materials,\u201d said first-author Dr Shiying Ren from Adelaide University.<\/p>\n The discovery offers a powerful way to give waste plastics a second life as high-performance materials, advancing both a circular economy and next-generation clean technologies. Unlike many recycling approaches, this method works across multiple plastics and even mixtures, producing gram-scale yields that point to real-world feasibility, as per<\/a> the release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have developed a method that can help turn plastics into valuable carbon nanomaterials. One of the world\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55,97134,62209,97135],"class_list":{"0":"post-228244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom","13":"tag-waste-material","14":"tag-x-ray","15":"tag-xas-technique"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\u201cThe XAS technique is a uniquely powerful tool<\/a> in studies like these, because it can clearly distinguish between nanoparticles and truly single-atom sites, and we are seeing a surge in demand from researchers worldwide working in this area.\u201d<\/p>\n