Sunlight‐Mediated Degradation of Polyethylene under the Synergy of Photothermal CH Activation and Modification

The reuse of waste plastic has always been one of the challenges in the field of macromolecular science. The authors report that the degradation of polyethylene (PE) plastics can be achieved by a photothermal reaction using tetrabutylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) as photocatalysts, and the grafting...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecular chemistry and physics 2022-06, Vol.223 (12), p.n/a
Main Authors: Kong, Shengnan, He, Congze, Dong, Jin, Li, Ning, Xu, Chaoran, Pan, Xiangcheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical synthesis
Compatibilizers
Degradation
Gloves
Low molecular weights
modification
photothermal
polyethylene
Polyethylenes
Polyolefins
Sunlight
Waxes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The reuse of waste plastic has always been one of the challenges in the field of macromolecular science. The authors report that the degradation of polyethylene (PE) plastics can be achieved by a photothermal reaction using tetrabutylammonium decatungstate (TBADT) as photocatalysts, and the grafting of diisopropyl azodicarboxylate (DIAD) onto PE concurrently occurs under sunlight irradiation. Through adjusting the amount of DIAD or TBADT used in the reaction, low molecular weight PE waxes with tunable polarity can be prepared. This method can be applied to different sorts of PE plastics including films, gloves, and bags. Subsequently, synthesized low molecular weight PE‐graft‐DIAD waxes are used as compatibilizers to successfully realize the compatibilized blending of polyolefin plastics and starch, which paved a viable way to reuse waste plastics to reduce environmental pollution. The low molecular weight polyethylene (PE) with tunable polarity is fabricated from waste plastics via photothermal reaction under sunlight, and the modified PE can be used as compatibilizers to blend polyolefin plastics and starch, which paves a new way for the recycling of waste plastics to reduce the pollution on the environment.
ISSN:1022-1352
1521-3935
DOI:10.1002/macp.202100322