Page 75 - Plastics News July 2025
P. 75
TECHNOLOGY NEWS
product life cycle, from initial contact to main- place, accessible at any time, barrier-free, and
tenance and upgrades, and potentially to a sub- synchronised between desktop and mobile de-
sequent repurchase of the equipment. All infor- vices.
mation on quality control, spare parts, contact Source – RECYCLING magazine
persons and system data is displayed in one
Energy Storage with Plastic-to-Carbon Conversion
tions in energy storage devices, offering a sus-
tainable alternative to traditional carbon sources
like graphite.
Hierarchical Porous Structures: The Key to
Performance
One of the most critical developments in this
field is the creation of hierarchical porous carbon
reakthrough tech turns waste plastics structures from waste plastics. These structures
into carbon materials for energy storage, combine micropores, mesopores, and macropo-
Bpowering supercapacitors, batteries, and res, which provide multiple benefits.
hydrogen production.
♦ Micropores (less than 2 nm) increase the ma-
Unlike traditional recycling, which often turns terial’s surface area, enhancing its ability to
plastics into lower-value products, this new ap- store charge.
proach converts waste plastics into carbon- ♦ Mesopores (2–50 nm) facilitate the rapid dif-
based materials for supercapacitors, batteries, fusion of electrolyte ions, improving the ma-
and hydrogen production. This innovation tack- terial’s power density.
les plastic waste and supports the growing de-
mand for advanced energy storage solutions. ♦ Macropores (greater than 50 nm) act as res-
ervoirs for electrolytes, ensuring efficient ion
Behind Plastic-to-Carbon Conversion
transport.
This innovation uses plastics’ carbon-rich nature For example, researchers converted PET from
to create high-performance materials. Research- plastic bottles into porous carbon nanosheets
ers turn waste plastics into porous carbon struc- with a specific surface area of 2198 m /g and a
2
tures through pyrolysis, chemical activation, and specific capacitance of 120 F/g at 0.2 A/g. Simi-
catalytic carbonization. Due to their excellent larly, they transformed PP from discarded cen-
electrochemical properties, these have applica-
July 2025 PLASTICS NEWS 75
