Abstract
AbstractPolylactic acid (PLA) has attracted increasing interest as a sustainable plastic because it can be degraded into CO2 and H2O in nature. However, this process is sluggish, and even worse, it is a CO2‐emitting and carbon resource waste process. Therefore, it is highly urgent to develop a novel strategy for recycling post‐consumer PLA to achieve a circular plastic economy. Herein, we report a one‐pot photoreforming route for the efficient and selective amination of PLA waste into value‐added alanine using CoP/CdS catalysts under mild conditions. Results show the alanine production rate can reach up to 2.4 mmol gcat−1 h−1, with a high selectivity (>75 %) and excellent stability. Time‐resolved transient absorption spectra (TAS) reveal that CoP can rapidly extract photogenerated electrons from CdS to accelerate proton reduction, favoring hole‐dominated PLA oxidation to coproduce alanine. This study offers an appealing way for upcycling PLA waste and creates new opportunities for green synthesis of amino acids.
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