Maghemite/nitrogen-doped graphene hybrid material as a reusable bifunctional catalyst for glycolysis of polyethylene terephthalate

Abstract

In this paper, we present superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3/nitrogen-doped graphene hybrid material as an efficient and environment-friendly bifunctional catalyst for a sustainable polyethylene terephthalate chemical recycling. The presented catalyst exhibit superparamagnetic behavior because of the infinitely small coercivity arising from the negligible energy barrier in the hysteresis of the magnetization loop. By magnetic recovering of the catalyst, the danger of releasing harmful catalyst components to the environment is reduced and the process becomes more cost-effective and sustainable. To the best of our knowledge, bifunctional catalyst including acidic and basic sites have never been used in any glycolysis reactions, particularly for polyethylene terephthalate. The catalytic activity of nitrogen-doped graphene and γ-Fe2O3 are also investigated which show the synergetic catalytic activity of γ-Fe2O3/nitrogen-doped graphene nanocomposite.