Valorization of Waste Plastics into Nanostructured Materials for LI-ION Storage Application

Abstract

Every year, several million tons of plastics are wasted, resulting in significant environmental pollution. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most commonly used plastics, with approximately 400 billion drink bottles produced annually. The widespread availability and environmental concerns associated with the non-natural degradability of PET waste necessitate the development of clean, efficient, and low-cost recycling methods or valorization into high-value materials. In this presentation, the molten salt conversion of waste PET into carbonaceous nanostructures is discussed as a facile, scalable, and fast method for valorizing PET waste. For instance, this molten salt process can result in the preparation of terephthalic acid embedded with tin dioxide nanocrystals. The resulting nanocomposite material shows interesting performance as anode of high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The structural, morphological and electrochemical performance of the terephthalic acid- tin dioxide are discussed in this presentation.