ArticleNature communications2026
Visible light-triggered co-upcycling of polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate using waste chlorinated solvents.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The chemical incompatibility of mixed plastics poses a fundamental barrier to their circularity. Polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), among the highest-volume manufactured polyolefin and polyester, are particularly difficult to process together due to their divergent structures and stabilities. Here, we demonstrate a synergistic photo-induced strategy that concurrently converts both polymers into valuable products by employing waste chlorinated solvents as a sustainable chlorine radical source. Under visible-light irradiation, chlorine radicals generated in situ from these discarded solvents selectively abstract tertiary hydrogens from PP, triggering an oxygen-mediated chain scission that produces terminal methyl ketone-functionalized polypropylene with lower-molecular-weight (OPP)-a material exhibiting strong performance as a hot-melt adhesive. The hydrogen chloride released during this process simultaneously drives efficient PET depolymerization into terephthalic acid with 1,2-dichloroethane. This coupled reaction not only enables compatible valorization of mixed plastic waste but also upgrades hazardous chlorinated solvents into functional reagents, establishing a triple-waste valorization paradigm with potential for further scale-up and process optimization for sustainable materials management.
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