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Laser-Anchored Ru Single-Atoms Enable Paired PET Plastic and Nitrate Upcycling into Formate and Ammonia
Summary
Scientists developed a fast, laser-based method to create a specialized catalyst that can simultaneously break down two harmful pollutants — nitrate (a common water contaminant from fertilizer runoff) and PET plastic waste — turning them into useful products like ammonia and formate. This matters because it offers a potential way to clean up nitrate-contaminated water and recycle plastic waste at the same time, rather than treating them as separate problems, though this is still early-stage lab research using electricity-driven chemistry rather than a ready-to-use consumer solution.
Electrochemical upcycling of nitrate (NO 3 − ) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into value-added chemicals offers a promising strategy for simultaneous pollution mitigation and resource recovery. However, progress in this field is hindered by the limited availability of high-performance electrocatalysts. Herein, we report a rapid CO 2 laser irradiation strategy for synthesizing Ru single-atom (RuSA) catalysts anchored on L-tryptophan (Trp) nanodomain-assembled Co 3 O 4 nanocubes (RuSA/Trp-Co 3 O 4 ) within 3 min, enabling high active-site exposure and utilization efficiency for both the electrocatalytic nitrate reduction reaction (NO 3 RR) and the ethylene glycol oxidation reaction (EGOR), where ethylene glycol (EG) is a key PET-derived monomer. The electron-rich Ru−N and Ru−O coordination environments, together with strong metal−support interactions, modulate the electronic structure, inducing a downward shift of the d -band center that optimizes the adsorption of key intermediates (*CH 2 OHCOOH and *NO). As a result, RuSA/Trp-Co 3 O 4 delivers high Faradaic efficiencies of 94.21% for selective C−C cleavage toward formate synthesis via the EGOR at 1.40 V vs RHE and 88.28% for NH 3 formation via the NO 3 RR at −0.20 V vs RHE. In situ spectroelectrochemistry and theoretical calculations reveal that the synergistic effects of isolated Ru sites suppress EG overoxidation and NO 3 − overreduction, thereby enabling efficient hybrid electrolysis for the concurrent upcycling of NO 3 − and PET hydrolysate into NH 3 and formate, respectively, while simultaneously facilitating the recovery of high-purity terephthalic acid. This work establishes a scalable design strategy for high-utilization single-atom catalysts for coupled waste upcycling reactions.