Work

A Direct Route for Upcycling Electronic Waste Into High‐Performance Palladium Catalysts

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Conversion to a circular economy needs efficient methods to recover critical metals from electronic waste. Here, we demonstrate a two‐step, purification‐free process to transform palladium contained in waste multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) into highly active heterogeneous catalysts. After acid leaching, Pd(II) was selectively extracted (97%–100% yield) using di‐ n ‐octyl sulfide (DOS) or N , N , N ′, N ′‐tetrahexylmalonamide (THMA), then directly impregnated onto γ ‐Al 2 O 3 . The resulting catalysts—containing residual Ag or Bi—showed activity at the level of a commercial reference (1 wt% Pd on γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ) in methane oxidation ( T 50 = 325°C–327°C) and hindered olefin hydrogenation (quantitative conversion during the first cycle at 185°C/20 bar), suggesting reasonable tolerance to metallic impurities. Notably, DOS‐extracted catalysts retained full activity despite sulfur content (0.5–0.6 wt%), while THMA‐derived systems showed three times higher intrinsic activity than the reference catalyst at 350°C. HRTEM‐EDS revealed well‐dispersed Pd or Pd/Ag nanoparticles. This approach eliminates the need for complete Pd purification, offering a sustainable route to upcycle complex e‐waste into value‐added materials for industrial catalysis.

Source: ChemCatChem

DOI: 10.1002/cctc.71112