Air-Enabled Electricity-Driven Depolymerization of Polyesters
This work describes the use of electrochemically generated superoxide (with air as the source of O2) at carbon electrodes as a reagent for the depolymerization of polyesters. We report the electricity-driven selective conversion of these common ester-based wastes into their foundational carboxylate and alkoxide building blocks. The results pave the way for an electrochemical approach to the recovery of molecular materials from ester wastes that uses air and electricity as key reagents for material recycling.
Authors
- Elisa M. Miller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7648-5433)
- Sean P. Keyser (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3821-6291)
- Seth R. Marder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6921-2536)
- Oana R. Luca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2988-4909)
- Matthew Ticknor
- Keenan Wyatt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5751-4844)
- Stephen Barlow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9059-9974)
- Phuc H. Pham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7086-6948)
Institutions
- National Laboratory of the Rockies (US)
- Energy Institute (GB)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Center for NanoScience (DE)
- University of Colorado System (US)
- MSSCORPS (Taiwan) (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
- Published
- 2025-04-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c08711
- Primary Topic
- Carbon dioxide utilization in catalysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development