Recycling and Reutilizing Polymer Waste via Electrospun Micro/Nanofibers: A Review

Abstract

The accumulation of plastic waste resulting from the increasing demand for non-degradable plastics has led to a global environmental crisis. The severe environmental and economic drawbacks of inefficient, expensive, and impractical traditional waste disposal methods, such as landfills, incineration, plastic recycling, and energy production, limit the expansion of their applications to solving the plastic waste problem. Finding novel ways to manage the large amount of disposed plastic waste is urgent. Until now, one of the most valuable strategies for the handling of plastic waste has been to reutilize the waste as raw material for the preparation of functional and high-value products. Electrospun micro/nanofibers have drawn much attention in recent years due to their advantages of small diameter, large specific area, and excellent physicochemical features. Thus, electrospinning recycled plastic waste into micro/nanofibers creates diverse opportunities to deal with the environmental issue caused by the growing accumulation of plastic waste. This paper presents a review of recycling and reutilizing polymer waste via electrospinning. Firstly, the advantages of the electrospinning approach to recycling plastic waste are summarized. Then, the studies of electrospun recycled plastic waste are concluded. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives of electrospun recycled plastic waste are provided. In conclusion, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of electrospun recycled plastic waste for researchers to develop further studies.

Recycled Synthetic Polymer-Based Electrospun Membranes for Filtering Applications

“…The polymer jet is drawn, elongated, and stretched from the apex into a straight line to a certain distance; it is sprayed along a spiral path. As the solvent volatilizes, fibers solidify and are finally deposited on the grounded collector [1,2,7]. The principle of the electrospinning process is displayed in Figure 1.…”

“…Especially synthetic polymers such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), and polyamide (PA) have been widely applied in various applications since the 1940s thanks to the properties related to the processability and corrosion resistance [1].…”

“…Most electrospun recycled PET fibrous membranes were applied for filtration [1]. Tough fibrous membranes for smoke filtration were developed from recycled PET bottles by Strain et al The diameter of the fibers is about 410 nm, the large surface specific area of 7.07 m 2 .g −1 and affinity of the rPET mats for airborne hydrocarbons open the way for the applied use in a range of industrial filters [43].…”

“…A linear economy system based on taking, making, using, disposing, and polluting is responsible for millions of tons of waste that threaten people's lives, while its littering and leakage in the environment cause negative impacts on land and sea life and also affect air quality [1,2]. In 2018, an estimated 359 million tons of plastic (synthetic polymers) were produced globally.…”

Adsorption of Different Pollutants by Using Microplastic with Different Influencing Factors and Mechanisms in Wastewater: A Review

“…Based on the principle of green environmental protection, waste utilization is the best way. Microplastics have been used to make electrospun micro/nanofibers (in the waste recycling) [12], PET nanoparticles (in the biological systems) [13], and antimicrobial coatings (in the healthcare sector) [14].…”