High Carbon Recovery in Photocatalytic Degradation of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Blend with Stearic Acid as a Radical Source
A blend of high-density polyethylene (HDPE, <i>M</i><sub>w</sub> = 59.4 kDa) and stearic acid was efficiently degraded under cerium catalyzed photodecarboxylation conditions, and the molecular weight decreased to <i>M</i><sub>w</sub> = ∼5 kDa. The reaction proceeds at 100 °C in <i>tert</i>-butylnitrile (<sup><i>t</i></sup>BuCN) in air, where HDPE does not dissolve or swell. The products are solid material with >90% weight recovery of the starting HDPE + stearic acid. Control experiments supported that carbon radicals generated by cerium-catalyzed photodecarboxylation of stearic acid transferred to the main chain of the HDPE, which undergoes oxidative degradation to lower the molecular weight.
Authors
- Kohei Takahashi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2098-3879)
- Kyoko Nozaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0321-5299)
- Bin Lü (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8230-8812)
Institutions
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Macro Letters
- Published
- 2025-02-10
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.4c00726
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.01
Funders
- Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology