No abstract

Plastic pollution and its harmful effects on the earth ecosystem, which inevitably affect quality of life, have brought attention to the frontiers of research society. Among plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used on a massive scale in various sectors of industry, including the automobile, textile, and packaging. Utilizing an electrospinning fiber production technique, we have successfully upcycled PET waste bottle into electrochemical active carbon material that functions as a double-layer supercapacitor substance. Our detailed electrochemical and analytical characterization revealed that the generated carbon substance is a mixture of amorphous carbon and reduced graphene oxide with relatively high surface area. The electrochemical characterization of the as-prepared material consisting of cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic cycling with potential limitations, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analyses revealed that the generated medium has combined characteristics of both double-layer and redox reaction pseudo-capacitance with self-strengthening effect along cycling. We believe that the proposed process is scalable with environmental and economic advantages and this study could present opportunities for future research and development.

No abstract

Novel zinc–palladium–porphyrin bimetal metal–organic framework (MOF) nanosheets were directly synthesized by coordination chelation between Zn(II) and Pd(II) tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphin (TCPP(Pd)) using a solvothermal method. Furthermore, a serial of carbon nanosheets supported Pd–Zn intermetallics (Pd–Zn-ins/CNS) with different Pd: Zn atomic ratios were obtained by one-step carbonization under different temperature using the prepared Zn-TCPP(Pd) MOF nanosheets as precursor. In the carbonization process, Pd–Zn-ins went through the transformation from PdZn (650 °C) to Pd3.9Zn6.1 (~950 °C) then to Pd3.9Zn6.1/Pd (1000 °C) with the temperature increasing. The synthesized Pd–Zn-ins/CNS were further employed as catalysts for selective hydrogenation of acetylene. Pd3.9Zn6.1 showed the best catalytic performance compared with other Pd–Zn intermetallic forms.

A one-pot and green synthesis methodology was successfully designed to prepare nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) cohered Fe3O4 nanoparticles with rich oxygen vacancies (Fe3O4-OVs/NC). The preparation was achieved via cold-atmospheric-pressure air plasma using Fe2O3 nanoparticles as the only precursor, and pyridine as the carbon and nitrogen source. Systematic characterization results of the as-prepared Fe3O4-OVs/NC confirmed the transition from Fe2O3 to Fe3O4, along with the generation of oxygen vacancies, while preserving the original needle-like morphology of Fe2O3. Moreover, the results indicated the formation of the NC attaching to the surface of the formed Fe3O4 nanoparticles with a weight percent of ~13.6%. The synthesized nanocomposite was further employed as a heterogeneous Fenton catalyst to remove phenol from an aqueous solution. The material has shown excellent catalytic activity and stability, demonstrating a promising application for wastewater treatment.