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Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Scalable Step-by-Step Approach of Sustainable Bioplastic Production from Food Waste
Published on: July 18, 2025
Electrocatalytic reforming of waste plastics into high value-added chemicals and hydrogen fuel
Rui Shi1, Ke-Sheng Liu1,2, Fulai Liu1
1Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials & HKU-CAS Joint Laboratory on New Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China. chenyong@mail.ipc.ac.cn.
Abstract:
The upcycling of waste plastic offers an attractive way to protect the environment and turn waste into value-added chemicals and H2 fuel. Herein, we report a novel electroreforming strategy to upcycle waste polyethylene terephthalate into high value-added chemicals, such as terephthalate and carbonate, over a Pd modified Ni foam catalyst. This system exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity (400 mA cm-2 at 0.7 V vs. RHE) and high selectivity (95%)/faradaic efficiency (93%) for the product carbonate. Our work demonstrates a technology that can not only transform waste polyethylene terephthalate into value-added chemicals but also generate H2 fuel via an all-in-one electro-driven process.
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