Sustainable Conversion of Mixed Plastics into Porous Carbon Nanosheets with High Performances in Uptake of Carbon Dioxide and Storage of Hydrogen
Abstract
Conversion of waste plastics into high value-added carbon nanomaterials has gained wide research interest due to the requirement of sustainable development and the ever-increasing generation of waste plastics. However, most of studies are limited to single component plastic; besides, little attention has been paid to carbon nanosheets (CNS). Herein, CNS were prepared by catalytic carbonization of mixed plastics consisting of polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, poly(ethylene terephthalate), and polyvinyl chloride on organically modified montmorillonite. After KOH activation, porous CNS (PCNS) were produced. The morphology, microstructure, phase structure, textural property, surface element composition, and thermal stability of PCNS were investigated. PCNS contained randomly oriented lattice fringes and showed a layered morphology consisting of thin, leaf-like, agglomerated nanosheets ranging from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers in length. Besides, PCNS exhibited high specific surface area (1734 m 2 /g) and large pore volume (2.441 cm 3 /g). More importantly, PCNS displayed high performances in the uptake of carbon dioxide and storage of hydrogen. It is believed that this work not only paves the way for utilization of mixed waste plastics but also provides a facile sustainable approach for the large-scale production of valuable PCNS for energy storage and environmental remediation.
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Combinations of various plastic materials, namely vinyl polymers (PS, PP, PE, PVC) and polyesters, were effectively used in the fabrication of porous carbon nanosheets.
“Furthermore, combinations of various plastic materials, namely vinyl polymers (PS, PP, PE, PVC) and polyesters, were effectively used in the fabrication process of porous carbon nanosheets [57,83].”
From Transforming Plastic Waste into Value: A Review of Management Strategies and Innovative Applications in Sustainable Construction (2025) · cites this paper as [83]
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- Authors
- Gong, J., Michalkiewicz, B., Chen, X., Mijowska, E., Liu, J., Jiang, Z., Wen, X., & Tang, T.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin (PL)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, Xuecheng
- Tang, Tao
- ORCID
- Venue
- ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2014-10-27
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2837-2844
- ISSN
- 2168-0485 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2072070193
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 64
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 10.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (20804045, 21204079, 50873099, 51373171)
- Polish Foundation (2011/03/D/ST5/06119)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Carbon Dioxide Capture Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Supercapacitor Materials and Fabrication
- Physical Sciences › Chemical Engineering › Process Chemistry and Technology › Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis
- Keywords
- carbon nanosheets, mixed plastic waste, waste plastic conversion, catalytic carbonization, organically modified montmorillonite, KOH activation, porous carbon, CO2 absorption, hydrogen storage, polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, layered morphology, specific surface area
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