Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS RESEARCH
Volume -, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1557/s43578-023-01016-7
Keywords
Upcycling; Crosslinking; Pyrolysis; Carbon capture; Porosity; Heteroatoms
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study presents a simple, scalable, and catalyst-free method for directly converting crosslinked polyethylene (PE) foams into porous carbon materials. By sulfonation-based crosslinking, PE can be efficiently converted into carbon precursors while retaining the high porosity feature. The derived carbon materials exhibit high CO2 sorption capacity and CO2/N-2 selectivity, addressing the challenges of plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
Recycling of crosslinked plastics is an intractable challenge due to their very limited amenability to mechanical reprocessing. While a variety of chemical recycling methods have been recently reported, these systems primarily focus on deconstructing or depolymerizing plastics to monomers and liquid fuels, which their subsequent use likely involves additional energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. In this work, we present a simple, scalable, and catalyst-free method for directly converting crosslinked polyethylene (PE) foams into porous carbon materials. This process is enabled by sulfonation-based crosslinking, allowing the conversion of PE to become efficient carbon precursors, while retaining the high porosity feature from the foam precursors. Through two steps of sulfonation and carbonization, derived carbons contain a relatively high surface area and sulfur-doped framework. As a result, these materials can exhibit high CO2 sorption capacity and CO2/N-2 selectivity. This work presents a viable pathway to address two grand-scale environmental challenges of plastic wastes and greenhouse gas emissions.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available