Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Development of hydroxyapatite-enhanced membrane for nanoplastics removal: Multiple scenarios and mechanism exploration

Researchers developed a novel hydroxyapatite-functionalized PVDF membrane (HAPF) for nanoplastics removal, achieving a water flux of 4376 LMH and high polystyrene nanoplastic rejection efficiency, with the optimized membrane prepared via a one-step method at pH 7.3.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Fabrication and Characterization of Cellulose Acetat / N-Methyl Pyrollidon Membrane for Microplastics Separation in Water

Researchers fabricated cellulose acetate membranes using N-methyl pyrrolidone as solvent via the phase inversion method and examined how immersion time during membrane formation affects the characteristics and microplastic removal performance of the resulting flat sheet microfiltration membranes. The study aims to optimize membrane manufacturing parameters for efficient microplastics separation from water.

2024 Engineering headway 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Preparation and Study of a Waste Corrugated Cardboard Fiber‐Based Foamed Material With Good Hydrophobicity and Flame‐Retardant Properties

Researchers fabricated biomass foams from waste corrugated cardboard fibres using a microwave-assisted foaming technique, investigating the synergistic effects of silane fibre modification and kaolin doping on mechanical, hydrophobic, and flame-retardant properties. The optimised foam achieved a compressive stress of 0.53 MPa at 50% strain, a 20.1% reduction in water absorption, and a 34.7% increase in limiting oxygen index compared to conventional foams, presenting a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based cushioning materials.

2025 Journal of Applied Polymer Science
Article Tier 2

Non-Wettable Microporous Sheets Using Mixed Polyolefin Waste for Oil–Water Separation

Not relevant to microplastics — this paper describes manufacturing non-wettable porous sheets from recycled polyethylene and polypropylene waste for oil-water separation, focusing on materials recycling rather than microplastic pollution.

2023 Polymers 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Morpho-structural and thermo-mechanical characterization of recycled polypropylene and polystyrene from mixed post-consumer plastic waste

Researchers characterized recycled polypropylene and polystyrene recovered from mixed post-consumer plastic waste, assessing their morphological, structural, and thermo-mechanical properties to evaluate suitability for reuse in manufacturing.

2022 Journal of environmental chemical engineering 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Characterization of Biodegradable Polymers for Porous Structure: Further Steps toward Sustainable Plastics

Four biodegradable polymers -- PBAT, PBS, PHBV, and PLA -- were systematically characterized for mechanical, thermal, and porous structural properties to assess their suitability as more sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics.

2024 Polymers 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Membrane Fabrication by Solid Waste: Opportunities and Challenges

This review assessed the opportunities and challenges of using solid waste materials, including plastics, as feedstocks for membrane fabrication, offering a pathway to reduce landfill pressure while producing functional filtration materials. Key challenges include inconsistent feedstock quality and the need for scalable processing methods.

2023 Journal of Resource Recovery 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Preparation and application of a polyethylene foam packaging material

This review examines the preparation, modification, and application of polyethylene foam as a packaging material, discussing its lightweight, insulating, and shock-absorbing properties alongside the environmental and recycling challenges its widespread use creates. The authors propose approaches to address sustainability concerns while maintaining the performance characteristics that make polyethylene foam central to the modern packaging industry.

2024 Academic Journal of Materials & Chemistry
Article Tier 2

PET foaming: development of a new class of rheological additives for improved processability

This paper describes development of rheological additives to improve PET foaming for lightweight packaging, as an alternative to hard-to-recycle foamed polystyrene. Replacing polystyrene foam with more recyclable materials is important for reducing ocean microplastic pollution from packaging waste.

2023 Materials research proceedings
Article Tier 2

Mucin-Inspired Thermogels for Programmable Nanoplastic Removal in Water Purification

Researchers developed mucin-inspired amphiphilic bottlebrush copolymers that form thermally responsive hydrogels capable of capturing nanoplastics from water, achieving removal efficiencies of 68–100% for polystyrene nanoparticles (20–1,000 nm), with a reversible gel-syneresis cycle enabling both passive filtration and particle recovery for trace analysis.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Mucin-Inspired Thermogels for Programmable Nanoplastic Removal in Water Purification

Researchers developed mucin-inspired amphiphilic bottlebrush copolymers that form thermally responsive hydrogels capable of capturing nanoplastics from water, achieving removal efficiencies of 68–100% for polystyrene nanoparticles (20–1,000 nm), with a reversible gel-syneresis cycle enabling both passive filtration and particle recovery for trace analysis.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Mucin-Inspired Thermogels for Programmable Nanoplastic Removal in Water Purification

Researchers developed mucin-inspired amphiphilic bottlebrush copolymers that self-assemble into micelles and undergo reversible temperature-triggered sol-gel-syneresis transitions to capture nanoplastics from water, achieving removal efficiencies of 68-100% for polystyrene nanoplastics (20-1000 nm) and recovery efficiencies up to 61% for downstream analysis.

2025
Article Tier 2

Tuning pore size and density of rigid polylactic acid foams through thermally induced phase separation and optimization using response surface methodology

Researchers developed a method for making rigid, porous polylactic acid (PLA) foam — a biodegradable plastic — using a freeze-separation process, then used statistical modeling to optimize pore size and density. By fine-tuning factors like polymer concentration and temperature, they achieved specific foam structures useful for filtration, insulation, or biomedical applications.

2024 Scientific Reports 7 citations
Article Tier 2

High-performance amino-crosslinked phosphorylated microcrystalline cellulose/MoS2 hybrid aerogel for polystyrene nanoplastics removal from aqueous environments

Researchers fabricated a porous aerogel from phosphorylated cellulose and molybdenum disulfide nanosheets functionalized with polyethyleneimine and showed it removes carboxyl-modified polystyrene nanoplastics from water with an adsorption capacity of 402 mg/g, maintaining performance across a range of water chemistries and remaining reusable after multiple cycles.

2025 Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental implications of styrofoam waste and its utilization as lightweight fill material for embankment construction

Researchers investigated the environmental problems caused by styrofoam waste and explored whether it could be repurposed as a lightweight fill material for construction embankments. They found that incorporating styrofoam into embankment construction improved structural performance while diverting waste from landfills. The study suggests that reusing styrofoam in civil engineering could help address both waste management and construction challenges.

2024 E3S Web of Conferences 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Affinity capture of nanoplastics and their thermogravimetric quantification on plasma polymer coated filters

Researchers coated cellulose filters with different plasma polymer films and used thermogravimetric analysis to capture and quantify nanoplastics by their characteristic thermal degradation signatures, demonstrating that surface chemistry can improve retention — hydrophobic coatings for polystyrene, hydrophilic for PMMA — as a simple, low-cost nanoplastic screening method.

2025 Analytica Chimica Acta
Article Tier 2

Valorization of wood pulp to mechanically strong and biodegradable packaging foams by wet foaming process

Researchers developed biodegradable packaging foams from wood pulp and lignin using a wet foaming process, optimizing surfactant concentration and foaming time to achieve densities as low as 0.013 g/cm3 and porosities up to 99.2% as sustainable alternatives to expanded polystyrene.

2024
Article Tier 2

Acoustic and thermal characterization of a novel sustainable material incorporating recycled microplastic waste

Researchers created a new eco-friendly foam material by embedding recovered marine microplastics into a bio-based matrix, producing an open-cell insulating material with strong acoustic and thermal properties. The innovation offers a potential path to upcycle hard-to-recycle mixed marine plastic waste into useful building and industrial insulation products.

2021 Sustainable materials and technologies 52 citations
Article Tier 2

An evaluation model to predict microplastics generation from polystyrene foams and experimental verification

Researchers developed a simulation model that predicts when aged polystyrene foams will generate microplastics by linking plastic aging with mechanical failure over time, offering a tool to guide timely recycling before microplastic release occurs.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Experimental Evaluation of the Process Performance of MF and UF Membranes for the Removal of Nanoplastics

Researchers evaluated microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane performance for removing polystyrene nanospheres (120 and 500 nm) from water, finding that UF membranes can achieve high removal of nanoplastic particles that conventional wastewater treatment misses.

2023 Membranes 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Separation of microplastics from water using superhydrophobic silane-coupling-agent-modified geopolymer foam

Researchers created a water-repelling foam filter by modifying a geopolymer material with a silane coating and tested its ability to remove microplastics from water. The filter achieved roughly 99 percent removal of polyethylene microspheres and maintained its performance over approximately 200 treatment cycles. The study demonstrates that this inexpensive, chemically modified foam could be a practical tool for filtering microplastics from laundry and other wastewater sources.

2024 Separation and Purification Technology 22 citations
Article Tier 2

A layer-by-layer assembled superhydrophobic composite aerogel for rapid and high-capacity removal of microplastics from beverages

A superhydrophobic composite aerogel was synthesized using a layer-by-layer strategy combining an "egg-box" cellulose nanofiber network with silicone polymers, achieving an impressive polystyrene microplastic adsorption capacity of 555.5 mg/g within 100 minutes—driven primarily by hydrophobic interactions—and demonstrating high stability and reusability for microplastic removal from beverages.

2025 Materials Horizons 4 citations
Article Tier 2

A sustainable acoustic customization of open porous materials using recycled plastics

Researchers developed a sustainable foamy acoustic material by incorporating recycled marine microplastic waste — polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) — into a bio-based matrix, characterizing samples of different compositions for sound absorption and thermal insulation properties.

2022 Scientific Reports 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Polyurethane Foam Waste Upcycling into an Efficient and Low Pollutant Gasification Syngas

Researchers modeled the gasification of polyurethane foam waste under various conditions, finding that optimized thermochemical treatment can convert this common polymer waste into hydrogen-rich syngas with low pollutant output, offering a viable energy recovery pathway for difficult-to-recycle plastic foam materials.

2022 Polymers 21 citations