Work

Upcycling Polyethylene Waste into Hybrid Graphitic Porous Carbon Materials Used in High‐Performance Zinc‐Ion Hybrid Capacitors

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Polyethylene (PE) waste is a challenge to upcycle into useful materials because this plastic tends to decompose into volatile compounds when heated at relatively low temperatures. In this work, mixtures of PE wastes into a hybrid graphitic porous carbon (HGPC) by a thermal oxidation pretreatment step, with assistance of an inert solid additive (KCl), to functionalize, crosslink, and stabilize the PE waste followed by carbonization and catalytic graphitization steps with a potassium carbonate catalyst, are upcycled. The PE waste‐derived HGPC (PW‐HGPC) has a hybrid structure composed of graphene‐like carbon nanosheets grown on the surface of carbon particles, high porosity with specific surface area, up to 1,763 m 2 g −1 , and good graphitic degree with average Raman I 2D / I G ratios of 0.53. When used as cathode material for zinc‐ion hybrid capacitors, this PW‐HGPC exhibits an excellent specific capacity, up to 126.7 mAh g −1 , at high mass loading of 10 mg cm −2 . Moreover, PW‐HGPC exhibits remarkable cycling stability with capacity retention of >94% after 10 000 cycles. Additionally, the KCl is recycled and reused over five times. This method provides a new solution for upcycling PE wastes into high value‐added carbon materials, not only for zinc‐ion hybrid capacitors but also for other electrochemical energy storage device applications.

Source: Energy Technology

DOI: 10.1002/ente.202501104