Polyoxometalate-Induced Efficient Recycling of Waste Polyester Plastics into Metal–Organic Frameworks

Abstract

Polyester plastics such as poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) are utilized commonly in everyday life, yet only a small portion of these plastics are recycled, and typically, the recycling procedures face energy or pollution problems. Accordingly, methods that could convert waste polyester plastics into valueadded products like metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are desirable. For the first time, we report a general and versatile polyoxometalate-based plastic hydrolysis protocol for one-pot syntheses of polyoxometalate-based metal-organic frameworks (POMOFs). We show that this protocol could be applied to diverse kinds of plastics [i.e., PET and poly(butylene terephthalate)] and various polyoxometalate systems (i.e., Ni 6 PW 9 , Zn 4 PMo 12 , and V 6 S) to generate POMOFs (i.e., Ni-POMOF, Z-POMOF, and VMOP-11) with ∼100% hydrolysis efficiency. Besides, this method could be easily scaled up, and the largescale POMOFs obtained could efficiently catalyze the syntheses of cyclic carbonates in simulated flue gas from a coal-fired power plant. Thus, our approach of polyester plastic hydrolysis into valuable, ecofriendly, and biodegradable POMOFs sheds light on the development of novel techniques in waste-plastic recycling.

Materials from waste plastics for CO2capture and utilisation

“…Terephthalic acid obtained from polyesters such as PET or poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) can also be combined with polyoxometalates to form polyoxometalate-based metalorganic frameworks (POMOF) (Figure 4B). 83 These POMOFs, which exhibited high thermal and chemical stability, could be synthesised in one pot directly from PET/ PBT in the presence of the POMs under hydrothermal conditions. One of the nickel based POMOF, PET-Ni-POMOF, was tested as catalyst for cycloaddition of epoxides and CO 2 into cyclic carbonates.…”

A Facile and General Approach to Enhance Water Resistance of Metal-Organic Frameworks by the Post-Modification with Aminopropyltriethoxylsilane

“…Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a well-known class of porous crystals, which are constructed by the coordination assembly of metal ions (or metal clusters) with organic ligands [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. They have found extensive applications in gas adsorption and separation, catalysis, and sensor, by virtue of their ultrahigh surface areas, pore volumes and tunable properties [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Furthermore, CuBTC [Cu 3 (BTC) 2 (H 2 O) 3 ] n (BTC = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) (also known as HKUST-1) is one of the most studied MOFs [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], and is composed of dimeric cupric tetracarboxylate units, constructed by Cu 2 paddlewheel clusters linked by BTC 3− ligands [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Stabilizing the Extrinsic Porosity in Metal–Organic Cages-Based Supramolecular Framework by In Situ Catalytic Polymerization

“…Metal-organic cages (MOCs) have attracted increasing attention 1 based on their numerous potential applications, such as substrates for hierarchical structures, 2,3 cavity-induced catalysis, [4][5][6][7][8][9] stabilization of sensitive species, 10 and gas adsorption. 11 To extend homogeneous solution behavior to the heterogeneous solid state, several studies focused on assembling MOCs into supramolecular frameworks through relatively weak interactions have been reported.…”