PMID- 20145886
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20100506
LR  - 20100210
IS  - 1464-0333 (Electronic)
IS  - 1464-0325 (Linking)
VI  - 12
IP  - 2
DP  - 2010 Feb
TI  - Remediating plastic waste into carbon nanotubes.
PG  - 455-9
LID - 10.1039/b914648b [doi]
AB  - Polyethylene-based used plastics needs hundreds of years to degrade in 
      atmospheric conditions. Thus, in addition to conventional recycling facilities 
      for polymer waste (PW), innovative solutions are required. This paper describes a 
      solvent-free process that converts PW such as low-density (LD) and high-density 
      polyethylene (HDPE) into multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) via thermal 
      dissociation in the presence of chemical catalysts in a closed system under 
      autogenic pressure. Specifically, the optimization of process parameters, e.g. 
      selection and amounts of catalysts, density effects of PE, autogenic pressure 
      measurements, and a reaction mechanism for the growth of MWCNTs is explained. The 
      composition, morphology, and atomic structure of the as-obtained MWCNTs are 
      characterized employing advanced structural, spectroscopic, and imaging 
      techniques. We have measured the unique magnetic and electrical conductivity 
      behaviours of as-prepared MWCNTs to assess their potential applications as 
      advanced materials. This reproducible process presents an opportunity to use PW 
      as a feedstock for the production of MWCNTs, industrially significant value-added 
      products. Among the known methods for the fabrication of MWCNTs, the present 
      controlled dissociation of PW is one of the inexpensive and straightforward 
      methods.
FAU - Pol, Vilas Ganpat
AU  - Pol VG
AD  - Intense Pulse Neutron Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, 
      USA. pol@anl.gov
FAU - Thiyagarajan, Pappanan
AU  - Thiyagarajan P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20091123
PL  - England
TA  - J Environ Monit
JT  - Journal of environmental monitoring : JEM
JID - 100968688
RN  - 0 (Nanotubes, Carbon)
RN  - 0 (Plastics)
RN  - 0 (Polyethylenes)
SB  - IM
MH  - Conservation of Natural Resources/*methods
MH  - Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy
MH  - Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
MH  - Nanotubes, Carbon/*chemistry/ultrastructure
MH  - Plastics/*chemistry
MH  - Polyethylenes/*chemistry
MH  - X-Ray Diffraction
EDAT- 2010/02/11 06:00
MHDA- 2010/05/07 06:00
CRDT- 2010/02/11 06:00
PHST- 2010/02/11 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2010/02/11 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2010/05/07 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1039/b914648b [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Environ Monit. 2010 Feb;12(2):455-9. doi: 10.1039/b914648b. Epub 2009 Nov 23.