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Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling of Mask Waste
[Image: see text] Over the past years, disposable masks have been produced in unprecedented amounts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their increased use imposes significant strain on current waste management practices including landfilling and incineration. This results in large volumes of discarded ma...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
American Chemical Society
2022
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9016816/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35449951 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c00711 |
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author | Robertson, Mark Güillen Obando, Alejandro Emery, Joseph Qiang, Zhe |
author_facet | Robertson, Mark Güillen Obando, Alejandro Emery, Joseph Qiang, Zhe |
author_sort | Robertson, Mark |
collection | PubMed |
description | [Image: see text] Over the past years, disposable masks have been produced in unprecedented amounts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their increased use imposes significant strain on current waste management practices including landfilling and incineration. This results in large volumes of discarded masks entering the environment as pollutants, and alternative methods of waste management are required to mitigate the negative effects of mask pollution. While current recycling methods can supplement conventional waste management, the necessary processes result in a product with downgraded material properties and a loss of value. This work introduces a simple method to upcycle mask waste into multifunctional carbon fibers through simple steps of thermal stabilization and pyrolysis. The pre-existed fibrous structure of polypropylene masks can be directly converted into carbonaceous structures with high degrees of carbon yield, that are inherently sulfur-doped, and porous in nature. The mask-derived carbon product demonstrates potential use in multiple applications such as for Joule heating, oil adsorption, and the removal of organic pollutants from aqueous environments. We believe that this process can provide a useful alternative to conventional waste management by converting mask waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic into a product with enhanced value. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9016816 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | American Chemical Society |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-90168162022-04-20 Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling of Mask Waste Robertson, Mark Güillen Obando, Alejandro Emery, Joseph Qiang, Zhe ACS Omega [Image: see text] Over the past years, disposable masks have been produced in unprecedented amounts due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their increased use imposes significant strain on current waste management practices including landfilling and incineration. This results in large volumes of discarded masks entering the environment as pollutants, and alternative methods of waste management are required to mitigate the negative effects of mask pollution. While current recycling methods can supplement conventional waste management, the necessary processes result in a product with downgraded material properties and a loss of value. This work introduces a simple method to upcycle mask waste into multifunctional carbon fibers through simple steps of thermal stabilization and pyrolysis. The pre-existed fibrous structure of polypropylene masks can be directly converted into carbonaceous structures with high degrees of carbon yield, that are inherently sulfur-doped, and porous in nature. The mask-derived carbon product demonstrates potential use in multiple applications such as for Joule heating, oil adsorption, and the removal of organic pollutants from aqueous environments. We believe that this process can provide a useful alternative to conventional waste management by converting mask waste generated during the COVID-19 pandemic into a product with enhanced value. American Chemical Society 2022-03-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9016816/ /pubmed/35449951 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c00711 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Permits non-commercial access and re-use, provided that author attribution and integrity are maintained; but does not permit creation of adaptations or other derivative works (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Robertson, Mark Güillen Obando, Alejandro Emery, Joseph Qiang, Zhe Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling of Mask Waste |
title | Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling
of Mask Waste |
title_full | Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling
of Mask Waste |
title_fullStr | Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling
of Mask Waste |
title_full_unstemmed | Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling
of Mask Waste |
title_short | Multifunctional Carbon Fibers from Chemical Upcycling
of Mask Waste |
title_sort | multifunctional carbon fibers from chemical upcycling
of mask waste |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9016816/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35449951 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.2c00711 |
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