Rapid surface degradation of co-axially arranged polypropylene globules by nanoporous carbonized TiO2 assisted with UV-C

Photocatalytic degradation of different types of microplastics by TiOx/ZnO tetrapod photocatalysts

“…S1 . The purpose of the pre-treatment was to improve the oxidation of the MPs, and a small peak attributed to OH group vibrations in the region of 3300–3600 cm −1 [ 33 ] is observed, while no other evidence of oxidation is found. For the photocatalytic degradation experiments, initial quantity of MPs (5 or 10 mg, as specified) was added into the solution.…”

“…Consequently, photodegradation processes including the effect of illumination and the effects of a number of different photocatalysts on degradation/chemical changes of different plastics have been investigated in recent years [ [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] ], and the results have been summarized in Table S1 . The degraded plastics include polyolefins, such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide fibers, and poly(methylmethacrylate) [ 1 , 8 , 9 , 12 ].…”

“…There are many possible candidates for photocatalyst materials. Metal oxides, such as ZnO [ 27 , 28 ] and TiO 2 [ [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] ], have been among commonly investigated photocatalysts for microplastics degradation [ 4 , 7 , 9 ]. While complete degradation of PE under UV-C light (254 nm) was reported for TiO 2 , negligible degradation of PE was obtained under UV-A (365 nm) and visible illumination [ 20 ].…”

Artificial photosynthesis bringing new vigor into plastic wastes

“…Apart from plastic derivates, the raw plastics (e.g., PE, polypropylene [PP] and polyvinyl chloride [PVC]) have been investigated as feedstocks in photocatalysis as well 114–117 . Taking PE degradation as an example, the ZnO photocatalyst with high redox potential, low toxicity, and easy synthesis was chosen to decompose LDPE films into inorganic molecules 85 .…”

“…Apart from plastic derivates, the raw plastics (e.g., PE, polypropylene [PP] and polyvinyl chloride [PVC]) have been investigated as feedstocks in photocatalysis as well. [114][115][116][117] Taking PE degradation as an example, the ZnO photocatalyst with high redox potential, low toxicity, and easy synthesis was chosen to decompose LDPE films into inorganic molecules. 85 In this case, a distinct variation of the surface morphology of LDPE films could be observed after photocatalysis as compared to pristine LDPE (Figure 6D,E).…”