Polyoxometalate-induced efficient recycling of waste polyester plastics into metal-organic frameworks

Abstract

Polyester plastics such as poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) are utilized commonly in everyday life, yet only a small portion of these plastics are recycled, and typically, the recycling procedures face energy or pollution problems. Accordingly, methods that could convert waste polyester plastics into valueadded products like metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are desirable. For the first time, we report a general and versatile polyoxometalate-based plastic hydrolysis protocol for one-pot syntheses of polyoxometalate-based metal-organic frameworks (POMOFs). We show that this protocol could be applied to diverse kinds of plastics [i.e., PET and poly(butylene terephthalate)] and various polyoxometalate systems (i.e., Ni6PW9, Zn4PMo12, and V6S) to generate POMOFs (i.e., Ni-POMOF, Z-POMOF, and VMOP-11) with ∼100% hydrolysis efficiency. Besides, this method could be easily scaled up, and the largescale POMOFs obtained could efficiently catalyze the syntheses of cyclic carbonates in simulated flue gas from a coal-fired power plant. Thus, our approach of polyester plastic hydrolysis into valuable, ecofriendly, and biodegradable POMOFs sheds light on the development of novel techniques in waste-plastic recycling.