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Plastics upcycling

Plastics upcycling made more sustainable and practical

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Contemporary plastics upcycling methods rely on the use of hydrogen and solvents, which make the process not environmentally friendly. Now a solvent- and hydrogen-free strategy can convert high-density polyethylene into separable hydrocarbons with high efficiency.

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Fig. 1: The solvent- and hydrogen-free strategy for the upcycling of HDPE.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Energy, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China

    Chuan Xia

  2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Colloid, Interface and Chemical Thermodynamics, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Center for Carbon Neutral Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Buxing Han

Authors
  1. Chuan Xia
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  2. Buxing Han
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Correspondence to Chuan Xia or Buxing Han.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Xia, C., Han, B. Plastics upcycling made more sustainable and practical. Nat Sustain 6, 1518–1519 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01215-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-023-01215-4

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