Photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic upcycling poly(ethylene terephthalate) plastic waste coupled with hydrogen generation

Ting Zhang; Xin Li; Jianying Wang; Yanfeng Miao; Tianfu Wang; Xufang Qian; Yixin Zhao

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131054

Photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic upcycling poly(ethylene terephthalate) plastic waste coupled with hydrogen generation

J Hazard Mater. 2023 May 15:450:131054. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131054. Epub 2023 Feb 24.

Authors

Ting Zhang¹, Xin Li¹, Jianying Wang¹, Yanfeng Miao¹, Tianfu Wang¹, Xufang Qian², Yixin Zhao³

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai 200240, PR China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai 200240, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: qianxufang@sjtu.edu.cn.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai 200240, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: yixin.zhao@sjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36841072
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131054

Abstract

The electrochemical upconversion of plastic wastes has been demonstrated as an attractive alternative to the sluggish OER process to simultaneously produce valued chemicals and reduce the energy consumption. Herein, we report a photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic strategy to upcycle poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) into value-added formic acid products and co-produce green hydrogen. The waste PET was dissolved by KOH and then directly pumped into an electrochemical flow reactor (EFR) including CuO nanowires (NWs) anode and Pt/C 20% cathode (PV-EFR) and driven by the commercial silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels. This PV-EFR system exhibits a solar-to-chemical (STC) efficiency of 32.6% under AM 1.5 G simulated sunlight (100 mW cm^-2), and high Faradaic efficiencies (FE, ∼ 67% for formic acid, and ∼90% for green hydrogen) with exceptional 120 h long-term stability in the STC mode. Such a photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic strategy exhibits great potential for the rational utilization of renewable energy sources to produce high-value chemicals and fuels by upconversion of waste plastics.

Keywords: Electrocatalysis; Photovoltaic−driven; Solar-to-chemical efficiency; Upcycling plastic waste; Value-added chemicals.