Small fragments from plastic wastes, termed “microplastic”, have recently become of global concern due to their potential health risks and the difficulty in remediation. Presently, photocatalysis is considered the most effective approach to degrade microplastics. However, for photocatalysis to be applied in practice, it is necessary to study the photocatalytic degradation effects on various types of microplastics as they have different physical and chemical properties. Thus far, studies only focus on a few popular plastics. To supplement the missing data, here, we report the degradation of PET microplastics in water accelerated by visible light-activated nanocomposite photocatalyst MoO3/PPy/Fe3O4. The degradation process was monitored through mass loss, surface analysis with SEM, AFM, ATR-FTIR, and contact angle measurement. The degradation efficiency of MoO3/PPy/Fe3O4 was found to be ~2.5 times higher than TiO2, which is the current standard photocatalyst. A photocatalytic degradation mechanism for PET microplastics was then proposed based on the byproducts.

Visible light degradation of polyethylene terephthalate microplastic by nanocomposite photocatalyst MoO3/Polypyrrole/Fe3O4

ACS Fall 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.