Scientists from Purdue University have developed a procedure that converts the plastic of single-use bags into the carbon chips that are found in lithium batteries. These are the batteries used to power portable electronics, toys, and medical devices. With their technique, grocery bags may soon be powering our smartphones while helping solve the plastic recycling crisis.
There have been previous attempts at converting the polyethylene in plastic bags into a source of energy-storing carbon. This idea has been floating around amongst experts for a long time now, with no avail. Nobody had been able to figure it out. They have either failed or their methods required processes that are too expensive or complex. But now, It seems their persistence in the matter has finally come to bear fruit.
The problem has just been solved with a simple and more efficient approach by Dr. Vilas Pol, a chemical engineer at Indiana University. His research has been published in ACS Omega. In this paper, Pol explains how he and his colleagues have developed a method that creates carbon chips that can be used as anodes. Anodes are typically made of graphite. They serve as the negative electrodes used in these rechargeable batteries.
How They Did It
- Polyethylene plastic bags were immersed into sulphuric acid and then sealed inside a chemical reactor. According to Pol, this treatment made it possible for the plastic to be heated to a much higher temperature without vaporizing into hazardous gases.
- The chemical reactor heated the plastic up to just below the melting temperature of around 150°C (302°F).
- Then, they removed the sulphonated polyethylene from the reactor and heated it in a furnace in an inert atmosphere, whereupon it became pure carbon.
- Lastly, they ground the carbon into a black powder and used it to make lithium battery anodes.
- The end result was a battery able to power a toy truck.
- With the first prototype a success, they have moved on to creating a full-sized electric battery – coming soon.
Found In Phones, Not In Oceans
Instead of plastic ending up in a landfill or being dumped into our oceans, this novel upcycling approach can completely get rid of it – low- and high-density waste plastic bags – by converting them into functional carbonaceous materials.
At the moment, 85 percent of the 300 million tons of plastics produced annually are not recycled. Their solution directly tackles this grave lack-of-recycling dilemma that needs our attention. The world needs more ideas like this because recycling, ingenious upcycling and reducing single-use plastics will help save the planet.
