Researchers have developed a type of plastic that could be recycled indefinitely without any loss of quality.
Plastic pollution is among the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. According to the United Nations, 400 million tons of new plastic waste are generated every year. A recent attempt to reach a global agreement to curb plastic production and pollution has failed, and it remains unclear whether negotiations will resume.
In the meantime, research efforts in many countries are focusing on developing eco-friendlier materials and more effective recycling methods. Raw materials often play a decisive role in such innovations, just as rare earth elements and LEDs containing metals like gallium and indium have now enabled a potential breakthrough.
At Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, a team led by Assistant Professor Fabian Eisenreich may have found a way to recycle plastics repeatedly without any loss in quality. Conventional recycling methods usually involve melting and reshaping plastics, which gradually degrade their properties. Eisenreich’s team takes a different approach: designing plastics so that they can later be broken down into their original chemical building blocks. These base molecules can then be reassembled into new plastics with identical quality.
Cerium and LED Light Trigger the Key Chemical Reaction
Both the production and recycling of the material rely on a photocatalyst made from the rare-earth metal cerium, a substance that initiates chemical reactions under LED light. Eisenreich and doctoral researcher Ahsen Sare Yalin report that they are the first to demonstrate such a closed recycling loop in the lab successfully. Their publication in the Rising Stars edition of the journal Advanced Materials underlines the scientific importance of their work.
Tests show that the new material remains stable at temperatures above 300°C. However, it is still brittle and tends to adhere to other substances such as glass or polycarbonate. For now, the researchers see potential mainly in niche applications, such as recyclable adhesives. Their next step is to refine the designer material so it can be applied across a broader range of uses.
Critical raw materials as enablers in the fight against plastic pollution: Could rare earths help clean up the oceans? Critical raw materials are already being tested in other recycling strategies, for example, to break down the highly durable plastic nylon-6 without leaving toxic residues. The precious metal ruthenium has also shown substantial promise as a catalyst for plastic recycling. Research into such methods is underway at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy.
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