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Catalytic oxidation of polystyrene to aromatic oxygenates over a graphitic carbon nitride catalyst
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Researchers demonstrated a photocatalytic method to break down polystyrene plastic waste into useful aromatic chemicals including benzoic acid, acetophenone, and benzaldehyde using graphitic carbon nitride catalysts under visible light. The process achieved over 90% conversion of polystyrene, yielding 0.36 grams of valuable aromatic products from 0.5 grams of plastic waste.
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.
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