Stepwise hydrogen spillover-engineered synergistic sites enable near-quantitative conversion of waste PET to p-xylene.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41605938.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-68990-4 and PMC identifier 12957394.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
The valorization of plastic waste represents a major challenge of the 21st century due to its severe environmental impact. Here, we report a stepwise hydrogen spillover-constructed CuCo/CoO<sub>x</sub> catalyst that enables near-quantitative conversion of waste polyethylene terephthalate to p-xylene (>99.9%), significantly outperforming the performance of various Cu- and Co-based catalysts as well as previously reported noble metal catalysts. The stepwise hydrogen spillover induces the formation of partially phase-transformed Co<sup>0</sup> species and abundant oxygen-vacancy-rich Co<sup>0</sup>/CoO<sub>x</sub> interfaces. The former enhances H<sub>2</sub> dissociation efficiency, while the latter facilitates C-O bond activation in polyethylene terephthalate and regulates substrate-product adsorption equilibria, synergistically contributing to the exceptional catalytic performance. The catalyst demonstrates broad applicability to more than 30 real-world polyester plastics. Furthermore, techno-economic analysis reveals significant reductions in CO<sub>2</sub> emissions and competitive processing costs. This breakthrough in near-quantitative polyethylene terephthalate conversion and stepwise hydrogen spillover-enabled active site construction offers valuable insights into plastic waste upcycling and the design of advanced heterogeneous catalysts.