Issue 6, 2023

State of the art in the photochemical degradation of (micro)plastics: from fundamental principles to catalysts and applications

Abstract

Plastic, due to its low cost, light weight, and tunable mechanical strength, is one of the most commonly used materials in daily life. However, the massive production of plastics in the last century has resulted in an environmental crisis globally, clogging oceans and poisoning communities around the world. Furthermore, the traditional methods for handling plastic waste, such as incineration and landfill disposal, can easily result in the generation of excessive amounts of microplastics (MPs), which lead to severe environmental pollution and pose a great threat to living organisms. Photocatalytic conversion of plastics to light-weight hydrocarbons and recycling are considered to be promising strategies towards the mitigation of MPs and have attracted a great deal of attention in the last few decades. In this review, a few representative and frontier studies on photocatalysis are presented as green promising methods towards the degradation of (micro)plastics. Initially, we introduce the harmful nature of waste (micro)plastics and discuss the background of photocatalysis. Then, the mechanisms for the photocatalytic degradation of (micro)plastics are presented, followed by the classification of photocatalysts. Also, we highlight conventional inorganic semiconductor oxides (TiO2, ZnO, etc.) and organic–inorganic hybrid composites, including doped and surface-modified nanoparticles. To further improve the efficiency of photocatalytic degradation, several approaches related to reactants, photocatalysts, and reaction conditions are proposed. Finally, based on current photocatalyst-mediated (micro)plastic degradation techniques, we provide some existing limitations and a perspective towards future research directions. This review systematically summarizes the efforts devoted to the photocatalysis of plastic and progress made in the degradation rate.

Graphical abstract: State of the art in the photochemical degradation of (micro)plastics: from fundamental principles to catalysts and applications

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
07 12月 2022
Accepted
06 1月 2023
First published
09 1月 2023

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 2503-2527

State of the art in the photochemical degradation of (micro)plastics: from fundamental principles to catalysts and applications

W. Li, W. Zhao, H. Zhu, Z. Li and W. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 2503 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA09523H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements