skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


  • NSF Public Access
  • Search Results
  • Upcycling Plastic Waste into Graphite Using Graphenic Additives for Energy Storage: Yield, Graphitic Quality, and Interaction Mechanisms via Experimentation and Molecular Dynamics
Title: Upcycling Plastic Waste into Graphite Using Graphenic Additives for Energy Storage: Yield, Graphitic Quality, and Interaction Mechanisms via Experimentation and Molecular Dynamics
This research presents pioneering work on transforming a variety of waste plastic into synthetic graphite of high quality and purity. Six recycled plastics in various forms were obtained – including reprocessed polypropylene, high-density polyethylene flakes, shredded polyethylene films, reprocessed polyethylene (all obtained from Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center), polystyrene foams and polyethylene terephthalate bottles (both sourced from a local recycling bin). The waste plastics were carbonized in sealed tubing reactors. The study shows that this versatile process can be used on a mix of waste plastics in a variety of recycled forms to obtain a uniform graphitic carbon phase, hence addressing the challenges of separation and transportation faced by the plastic recycling industry. The conversion yield to elemental carbon for recycled plastics was improved by up to 250% by using graphene oxide (GO) additives. Five different grades of GO and graphene were used to gain insights into the interaction mechanisms between plastics and GO during pyrolysis. The effect of GO additives on carbonization was analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis / differential scanning calorimetry and ReaxFF-based reactive molecular dynamics simulations. The obtained cokes were graphitized at 2500 ℃ and the graphitic quality of the synthetic graphites was analyzed using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The plastic waste-derived synthetic graphites exhibit remarkable graphitic quality with crystallite sizes comparable with a model graphitizable material – anthracene coke. The thin, flake-like morphology and nanostructure featuring well-stacked contiguous lamellae make these graphitic carbons highly promising candidates for energy storage applications. Based on our experiments and atomistic-scale simulations we propose interaction mechanisms between the plastic polymers and the graphenic additives that explain the chemical conversion pathways for GO-assisted waste plastic carbonization and graphitization.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2309333
PAR ID:
10504948
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Corporate Creator(s):
Editor(s):
Subramaniam, B. Executive Editor
Publisher / Repository:
American Chemical Society
Date Published:
Journal Name:
ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
Edition / Version:
1
Volume:
12
Issue:
11
ISSN:
2168-0485
Page Range / eLocation ID:
4565 to 4575
Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
plastic waste upcycling graphite ReaxFF molecular dynamics pyrolysis mechanism graphene oxide battery anode
Format(s):
Medium: X Size: 2.6 Other: pdf
Size(s):
2.6
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, Carbon Trends)
    Increasing graphite demand for energy storage applications creates the need to make graphite using precursors and processes that are affordable and friendly to the environment. Non-graphitizing precursors such as biomass or polymers are known for their low cost and sustainability; therefore, graphitizing them will be an accom- plishment. In this work, a process of converting a non-graphitizing precursor, phenolic resin novolac (N), into a graphitic carbon is presented. This was achieved by the addition of five additives categorized as graphene oxide (GO) and its derivatives with varied oxygen concentrations. The hypothesis is that the additives act as templates that promote matrix aromatic alignment to their basal planes during carbonization (physical templating) in addition to forming radical sites that bond to the decomposing matrix (chemical templating). Results showed that the addition of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) additives of approximately 15.4 at.(%) oxygen content to the novolac matrix (RGO-N) show the best graphitic quality. In contrast, the addition of GO additive of twice or more oxygen content ≥30.8 at.(%) to the novolac matrix (GO-N) led to poor graphitic quality. This suggests that there is an optimum amount of oxygen content in GO additives needed to induce graphitization of the novolac matrix. 
    more » « less
  2. ; (, Polymer International)
    Abstract Chlorinated plastics are part of the everyday lives of consumers and producers alike. They can be found in buildings, automobiles, fashion, packaging, and many other places. This prevalence makes them a considerable part of the plastic waste crisis. Interest in “upcycling” (as opposed to recycling) has grown recently to augment the possibilities of managing plastic waste. The advances made in plastic upcycling have focused on polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) while chlorinated plastics, chiefly polyvinyl chloride (PVC), have received much less attention. The release of chlorine‐containing molecules during treatment of chlorinated plastic greatly complicates cross‐method upcycling, or even the treatment of plastic mixes containing chlorinated plastics. This review presents a case for extracting value from chlorinated plastics by highlighting appealing upcycling products made owing to, or despite, the C‐Cl bond via depolymerization, carbonization and modification. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; (, ACS Applied Nano Materials)
    Plastic upcycling, which involves making plastic-derived products with unique or improved properties from discarded plastic materials, is a promising alternative to recycling and disposal to help reduce the overall production of waste. However, recycled and reused materials typically have inferior mechanical, thermal, optical, and barrier properties compared with virgin plastics. Upcycled plastic materials could improve these properties while addressing future waste accumulation. In this study, we use waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) collected from disposable food packaging to create a repurposed plastic graphene oxide (GO) composite with a goal of upcycling. We developed a one-pot “dynamic depolymerization” to break down PET in the presence of GO and successfully enabled transesterification of the polymer onto GO. Covalent attachment of PET onto GO and tailorable plastic content was confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. These covalent composites (PET-GO) were found to be relatively impermeable to water vapor, showing promise for applications in packaging materials. Aqueous degradation experiments on the composite materials demonstrated that, in bulk conditions, PET-GOs remain mechanically robust while in contact with water over appropriate time scales for packaging applications, while beginning to break down in accelerated conditions. The use of depolymerization methods to promote polymer grafting concurrently with polymer deconstruction could provide a more general method for grafting waste polymers onto oxidized carbonaceous substrates with further study. 
    more » « less
  4. ; (, Recycling)
    Recycling plastic is an important step towards a circular economy. Attaining high-quality recycled plastics requires the separation of plastic waste by type, color, and size prior to reprocessing. Automated technology is key for sorting plastic objects in medium- to high-volume plants. The current state of the art of commercial equipment for sorting plastic as well as challenges faced by Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to sort post-consumer plastics are analyzed here. Equipment for sorting plastic recyclables were identified using publicly available information obtained from manufacturers’ websites, press releases, and journal articles. Currently available automated sorting equipment and artificial intelligence (AI)-based sorters are evaluated regarding their functionality, efficiency, types of plastics they can sort, throughput, and accuracy. The information compiled captures the progress made during the ten years since similar reports were published. A survey of MRFs, reclaimers, and brokers in the United States identified methods of sorting used for plastic, sorting efficiency, and current practices and challenges encountered at MRFs in sorting plastic recyclables. The commercial sorting equipment can address some of the challenges that MRFs face. However, sorting of film, multilayered, blended, or mixed-material plastics is problematic, as the equipment is typically designed to sort single-component materials. Accordingly, improvements and/or new solutions are considered necessary. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; (, Environmental Science: Advances)
    Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) require new automated technologies if growing recycling demands are to be met. Current optical screening devices use visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths, frequency ranges that can experience challenges during the characterization of postconsumer plastic waste (PCPW) because of the overly-absorbing spectral bands from dyes and other polymer additives. Technological bottlenecks such as these contribute to 91% of plastic waste never actually being recycled. The mid-infrared (MIR) region has attracted recent attention due to inherent advantages over the VIS and NIR. The fundamental vibrational modes found therein make MIR frequencies promising for high fidelity machine learning (ML) classification. To-date, there are no ML evaluations of extensive MIR spectral datasets reflecting PCPW that would be encountered at MRFs. This study establishes quantifiable metrics, such as model accuracy and prediction time, for classification of a comprehensive MIR database consisting of five PCPW classes that are of economic interest: polyethylene terephthalate (PET #1), high-density polyethylene (HDPE #2), low-density polyethylene (LDPE #4), polypropylene (PP #5), and polystyrene (PS #6). Autoencoders, an unsupervised ML algorithm, were applied to the random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and logistic regression (LR) models. The RF model achieved accuracies of 100.0% in both the C–H stretching region (2990–2820 cm −1 ) and molecular fingerprint region (1500–650 cm −1 ). The C–H stretching region was found to be free from additives that were responsible for misclassification in other regions, making it a fruitful frequency range for future PCPW sorting technologies. The MIR classification of black plastics and polyethylene PCPW using ML autoencoders was also evaluated for the first time. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email