Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Microbial Bioremediation of Plastics

Microbial Bioremediation of Plastics

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a synthetic polymer widely utilized in the packaging industry, particularly for bottles and containers. Due to its chemical stability and durability, PET accumulates in the environment, contributing significantly to plastic pollution. It comprises repeating units of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, resulting in a semi-crystalline structure that is resistant to natural degradation processes.A notable breakthrough in plastic biodegradation came with the...

Bioplastics

Bioplastics

Bioplastics derived from microbial processes present a sustainable alternative to conventional petroleum-based plastics. Among these, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), particularly polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs), have emerged as prominent candidates due to their biodegradability and biocompatibility. These polymers are synthesized by a variety of bacteria, such as Cupriavidus necator and Pseudomonas putida, which naturally accumulate PHAs as intracellular carbon and energy reserves, especially under...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Intrinsic Benefits of Categorical Distributional Loss: Uncertainty-aware Regularized Exploration in Reinforcement Learning.

Advances in neural information processing systems·2026

Same author

Synergistic Control of Radiative Decay and Exciton Splitting Dynamics for Efficient Organic Solar Cells Processed by Non-Halogenated Solvent.

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)·2026

Same author

A Photocurable Covalent Polyoxometalates-Membrane With Hierarchical Proton Conduction Pathways for High-Performance Vanadium Flow Batteries.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2026

Same author

HBr-Regulated Smart 2D Copper-Organic Framework for Highly Efficient and Selective Photocatalytic Oxidation.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2026

Same author

HDAC10 promotes Th17 differentiation and IL-17A-driven neutrophilic airway inflammation in severe asthma.

Cell reports·2026

Same author

Facile Synthesis of Biomass N, S-CDs for Fluorescent Detection of Tetracycline in Wastewater.

Molecules (Basel, Switzerland)·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Quantification of Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate-based Micro- and Nano-plastics from Soil Using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Quantification of Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate-based Micro- and Nano-plastics from Soil Using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Published on: June 6, 2025

Mechanochemically functionalized waste plastics for NO₂ sensing.

Yingnan Zhao¹, Liang Pang¹, Zhao Zhao²

¹Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials (Jilin University), Ministry of Education, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, P.R. China.

Nature Communications

|April 25, 2026

Summary

Waste plastics can be directly functionalized into value-added materials using a mechanochemical approach. This method creates polyoxometalate-plastic composites with potential for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas sensing.

More Related Videos

A Polyaniline-based Sensor of Nucleic Acids

A Polyaniline-based Sensor of Nucleic Acids

Published on: November 1, 2016

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis

Published on: July 1, 2017

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 27, 2026

Quantification of Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate-based Micro- and Nano-plastics from Soil Using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Quantification of Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate-based Micro- and Nano-plastics from Soil Using Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Published on: June 6, 2025

A Polyaniline-based Sensor of Nucleic Acids

A Polyaniline-based Sensor of Nucleic Acids

Published on: November 1, 2016

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis

Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis

Published on: July 1, 2017

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Chemical Engineering
Environmental Science

Background:

Upcycling waste plastics into valuable products is crucial for sustainability.
Traditional methods often involve energy-intensive depolymerization.
Direct functionalization offers a more efficient alternative.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a low-entropy, non-depolymerizing upcycling method for waste plastics.
To create functional plastic composites using polyoxometalate (POM) molecules.
To investigate the potential of these composites for gas sensing applications.

Main Methods:

A mechanochemical approach was employed for direct plastic functionalization.
Polyoxometalate (POM) molecules were used to functionalize plastic materials.
The resulting POM-plastic composites were characterized for their sensing properties.

Main Results:

The POM-plastic composites retained integrated plastic chains.
The phosphotungstic acid/polyethylene terephthalate (PW12-PET) composite showed excellent NO2 sensing capabilities.
PW12-PET achieved a low limit of detection (10.52 ppb) and rapid response/recovery times (19.2 s/13.5 s).
The composite demonstrated high selectivity against ten interfering gases and practical applicability.

Conclusions:

Direct non-depolymerizing upcycling of waste plastics into functional materials is feasible.
POM-plastic composites, particularly PW12-PET, show significant promise for NO2 sensing.
The mechanochemical method offers an energy-efficient route for plastic valorization.