Work

Waste-to-sensor upcycling of polyethylene terephthalate over Ag/Zr-MOF photocatalyst for microplastic degradation and AI-assisted heavy metal detection

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study aims to develop an integrated waste to sensor platform that couples photocatalytic PET depolymerization with on stream quantification of coexisting heavy metals. We achieve this by preparing AIM-202 through surface coordination of Ag to a water stable Zr-aspartate MOF (MIP-202), creating Ag 0 /Ag δ+ electron sink sites that enhance charge separation and reactive oxygen species generation while preserving the parent framework. The material was characterized by FT-IR, XRD, XPS, photoluminescence, KPFM, and EPR, and its photocatalytic activity was evaluated under Xe lamp irradiation. AIM-202 (5 mg mL–1) oxidized PET with increased FT-IR oxidation indices and surface pitting, and generated soluble products that increased from 151.40 µmol (week 1) to 277.27 µmol (week 2), corresponding to 11.63% and 28.68% conversion to quantified byproducts. The PET derived fluorophore 2-hydroxyterephthalate enabled fluorescence quenching based Cu 2+ and Fe 3+ sensing, and physics guided models refined with lightweight machine learning provided robust concentration back calculation. The novelty lies in a closed loop design in which MOF mediated depolymerization simultaneously produces the sensing reporter and enables data assisted quantification, supporting scalable remediation and monitoring within a single integrated scheme.

Source: Journal of Biological Engineering

DOI: 10.1186/s13036-026-00683-4