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Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application

The reactions occurring in the oxidative degradation phase during the photo-oxidative degradation of polyethylene (PE) are the factors leading to molecular weight reduction. However, the mechanism of molecular weight reduction before oxidative degradation has not been clarified. The present study ai...

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Autores principales: Wang, Zhiming, Chen, Huimin, Zhang, Yunpeng, Wang, Qingzhao
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36987210
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15061429
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author Wang, Zhiming
Chen, Huimin
Zhang, Yunpeng
Wang, Qingzhao
author_facet Wang, Zhiming
Chen, Huimin
Zhang, Yunpeng
Wang, Qingzhao
author_sort Wang, Zhiming
collection PubMed
description The reactions occurring in the oxidative degradation phase during the photo-oxidative degradation of polyethylene (PE) are the factors leading to molecular weight reduction. However, the mechanism of molecular weight reduction before oxidative degradation has not been clarified. The present study aims to investigate the photodegradation of PE/Fe-montmorillonite (Fe-MMT) films, especially molecular weight change. The results show the rate of photo-oxidative degradation of each PE/Fe-MMT film is much faster than that of the pure linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) film. A decrease in the molecular weight of polyethylene was also found in the photodegradation phase. Based on this, it was found that the transfer and coupling of primary alkyl radicals originating from photoinitiation lead to a decrease in the molecular weight of polyethylene, and the kinetic results validate this new mechanism well. This new mechanism is an improvement on the existing mechanism of molecular weight reduction during the photo-oxidative degradation of PE. In addition, Fe-MMT can greatly accelerate the reduction of PE molecular weight into small oxygen-containing molecules as well as induce cracks on the surface of polyethylene films, all of which can accelerate the biodegradation process of polyethylene microplastics. The excellent photodegradation properties of PE/Fe-MMT films will be useful in the design of more environmentally friendly degradable polymers.
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spelling pubmed-100571482023-03-30 Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application Wang, Zhiming Chen, Huimin Zhang, Yunpeng Wang, Qingzhao Polymers (Basel) Article The reactions occurring in the oxidative degradation phase during the photo-oxidative degradation of polyethylene (PE) are the factors leading to molecular weight reduction. However, the mechanism of molecular weight reduction before oxidative degradation has not been clarified. The present study aims to investigate the photodegradation of PE/Fe-montmorillonite (Fe-MMT) films, especially molecular weight change. The results show the rate of photo-oxidative degradation of each PE/Fe-MMT film is much faster than that of the pure linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) film. A decrease in the molecular weight of polyethylene was also found in the photodegradation phase. Based on this, it was found that the transfer and coupling of primary alkyl radicals originating from photoinitiation lead to a decrease in the molecular weight of polyethylene, and the kinetic results validate this new mechanism well. This new mechanism is an improvement on the existing mechanism of molecular weight reduction during the photo-oxidative degradation of PE. In addition, Fe-MMT can greatly accelerate the reduction of PE molecular weight into small oxygen-containing molecules as well as induce cracks on the surface of polyethylene films, all of which can accelerate the biodegradation process of polyethylene microplastics. The excellent photodegradation properties of PE/Fe-MMT films will be useful in the design of more environmentally friendly degradable polymers. MDPI 2023-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10057148/ /pubmed/36987210 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15061429 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Wang, Zhiming
Chen, Huimin
Zhang, Yunpeng
Wang, Qingzhao
Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title_full Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title_fullStr Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title_full_unstemmed Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title_short Study on the Mechanism of Molecular Weight Reduction of Polyethylene Based on Fe-Montmorillonite and Its Potential Application
title_sort study on the mechanism of molecular weight reduction of polyethylene based on fe-montmorillonite and its potential application
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057148/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36987210
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym15061429
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