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Catalytic oxidation of polystyrene to aromatic oxygenates over a graphitic carbon nitride catalyst

Author

Listed:
  • Ruochen Cao

    (Peking University)

  • Mei-Qi Zhang

    (Peking University)

  • Chaoquan Hu

    (State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    Nanjing IPE Institute of Green Manufacturing Industry)

  • Dequan Xiao

    (University of New Haven)

  • Meng Wang

    (Peking University)

  • Ding Ma

    (Peking University)

Abstract

The continuous increase in manufacturing coupled with the difficulty of recycling of plastic products has generated huge amounts of waste plastics. Most of the existing chemical recycling and upcycling methods suffer from harsh conditions and poor product selectivity. Here we demonstrate a photocatalytic method to oxidize polystyrene to aromatic oxygenates under visible light irradiation using heterogeneous graphitic carbon nitride catalysts. Benzoic acid, acetophenone, and benzaldehyde are the dominant products in the liquid phase when the conversion of polystyrene reaches >90% at 150 °C. For the transformation of 0.5 g polystyrene plastic waste, 0.36 g of the aromatic oxygenates is obtained. The reaction mechanism is also investigated with various characterization methods and procedes via polystyrene activation to form hydroxyl and carbonyl groups over its backbone via C–H bond oxidation which is followed by oxidative bond breakage via C–C activation and further oxidation processes to aromatic oxygenates.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruochen Cao & Mei-Qi Zhang & Chaoquan Hu & Dequan Xiao & Meng Wang & Ding Ma, 2022. "Catalytic oxidation of polystyrene to aromatic oxygenates over a graphitic carbon nitride catalyst," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-32510-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32510-x
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    Cited by:

    1. Yurui Fan & Haomiao Xu & Guanqun Gao & Mingming Wang & Wenjun Huang & Lei Ma & Yancai Yao & Zan Qu & Pengfei Xie & Bin Dai & Naiqiang Yan, 2024. "Asymmetric Ru-In atomic pairs promote highly active and stable acetylene hydrochlorination," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Laura Wimberger & Gervase Ng & Cyrille Boyer, 2024. "Light-driven polymer recycling to monomers and small molecules," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, December.

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