Affiliation:
1. Collaborative Innovation Center for Eco-Friendly and Fire-Safety Polymeric Materials (MoE) State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering National Engineering Laboratory of Eco-Friendly Polymeric Materials (Sichuan) College of Chemistry Sichuan University Chengdu 610064 China
Abstract
AbstractA novel in situ chemical upcycling strategy for plastic waste is proposed by the customized diphenylacetylene monomer with dual photo‐response. That is, diphenylacetylene reactive monomers are in situ inserted into the macromolecular chain of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics/fibers through one‐pot transesterification of slight‐depolymerization and re‐polymerization. On the one hand, the diphenylacetylene group absorbs short‐wave high‐energy UV rays and then releases long‐wave low‐energy harmless fluorescence. On the other hand, the UV‐induced photo‐crosslinking reaction among diphenylacetylene groups produces extended π‐conjugated structure, resulting in a red‐shift (due to decreased HOMO–LUMO separation) in the UV absorption band and locked crosslink points between PET chains. Therefore, with increasing UV exposure time, the upcycled PET plastics exhibit reverse enhanced UV resistance and mechanical strength (superior to original performance), instead of serious UV‐photodegradation and damaged performance. This upcycling strategy at oligomer‐scale not only provides a new idea for traditional plastic recycling, but also solves the common problem of gradual degradation of polymer performance during use.
Funder
National Key Research and Development Program of China
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
Subject
General Chemistry,Catalysis