Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review
Plastic waste becomes an immediate threat to our society with ever-increasing negative impacts on our environment and health by entering our food chain. Sunlight is known to be the natural energy source that degrades plastic waste at a very slow rate. Mimicking the role of sunlight, the photocatalyt...
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/152953 |
| _version_ | 1811687101989650432 |
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| author | Lee, Qian Ying Li, Hong |
| author2 | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Lee, Qian Ying Li, Hong |
| author_sort | Lee, Qian Ying |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Plastic waste becomes an immediate threat to our society with ever-increasing negative impacts on our environment and health by entering our food chain. Sunlight is known to be the natural energy source that degrades plastic waste at a very slow rate. Mimicking the role of sunlight, the photocatalytic degradation process could significantly accelerate the degradation rate thanks to the photocatalyst that drastically facilitates the photochemical reactions involved in the degradation process. This mini review begins with an introduction to the chemical compositions of the common plastic waste. The mechanisms of photodegradation of polymers in general were then revisited. Afterwards, a few photocatalysts were introduced with an emphasis on titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is the most frequently used photocatalyst. The roles of TiO2 photocatalyst in the photodegradation process were then elaborated, followed by the recent advances of photocatalytic degradation of various plastic waste. Lastly, our perspectives on the future research directions of photocatalytic plastic degradation are present. Herein, the importance of catalytic photodegradation is emphasized to inspire research on developing new photocatalysts and new processes for decomposition of plastic waste, and then to increase its recycling rate particularly in the current pandemic with the ever-increasing generation of plastic waste. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:10:58Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/152953 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T05:10:58Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1529532021-10-26T01:47:37Z Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review Lee, Qian Ying Li, Hong School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering CINTRA CNRS/NTU/THALES Engineering::Environmental engineering::Environmental pollution Plastic Waste Photocatalytic Degradation Photodegradation Mechanisms Titanium Dioxide Catalyst Plastic waste becomes an immediate threat to our society with ever-increasing negative impacts on our environment and health by entering our food chain. Sunlight is known to be the natural energy source that degrades plastic waste at a very slow rate. Mimicking the role of sunlight, the photocatalytic degradation process could significantly accelerate the degradation rate thanks to the photocatalyst that drastically facilitates the photochemical reactions involved in the degradation process. This mini review begins with an introduction to the chemical compositions of the common plastic waste. The mechanisms of photodegradation of polymers in general were then revisited. Afterwards, a few photocatalysts were introduced with an emphasis on titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is the most frequently used photocatalyst. The roles of TiO2 photocatalyst in the photodegradation process were then elaborated, followed by the recent advances of photocatalytic degradation of various plastic waste. Lastly, our perspectives on the future research directions of photocatalytic plastic degradation are present. Herein, the importance of catalytic photodegradation is emphasized to inspire research on developing new photocatalysts and new processes for decomposition of plastic waste, and then to increase its recycling rate particularly in the current pandemic with the ever-increasing generation of plastic waste. Ministry of Education (MOE) Published version This research was funded by Singapore Ministry of Education under grant Tier 1 RG101/18 (grant number: 2018-T1-001-051). The authors extended their appreciation to Nanyang Technological University Singapore for support via ACE award. 2021-10-26T01:46:29Z 2021-10-26T01:46:29Z 2021 Journal Article Lee, Q. Y. & Li, H. (2021). Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review. Micromachines, 12(8), 907-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12080907 2072-666X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/152953 10.3390/mi12080907 8 12 907 en RG101/18 Micromachines © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Engineering::Environmental engineering::Environmental pollution Plastic Waste Photocatalytic Degradation Photodegradation Mechanisms Titanium Dioxide Catalyst Lee, Qian Ying Li, Hong Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title | Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title_full | Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title_fullStr | Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title_short | Photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste : a mini review |
| title_sort | photocatalytic degradation of plastic waste a mini review |
| topic | Engineering::Environmental engineering::Environmental pollution Plastic Waste Photocatalytic Degradation Photodegradation Mechanisms Titanium Dioxide Catalyst |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/152953 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT leeqianying photocatalyticdegradationofplasticwasteaminireview AT lihong photocatalyticdegradationofplasticwasteaminireview |