Emerging Catalytic Platforms for Plastic Waste Recycling and Upcycling Over MOFs and COFs: Catalyst Engineering and Reaction Mechanisms

Plastic waste has led to a severe environmental crisis. Chemical recycling offers promising avenues for converting plastics into value-added chemicals. However, traditional inorganic catalysts often suffer from low product selectivity, unclear active sites, and challenging mechanistic studies. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have emerged as ideal catalytic platforms for plastic degradation due to their well-defined active sites and easily modifiable structures. However, a systematic review of plastic degradation over MOFs and COFs remains lacking to date. To fill this gap, in this review, we for the first time comprehensively summarize recent advances in the catalytic recycling and upcycling of plastic waste over MOFs and COFs using different catalytic methods, including photo-/electrocatalysis and thermocatalysis. First, the design of catalytic active sites, mechanistic elucidations, and the structure-activity relationships of these catalysts are summarized and highlighted. Next, the large-scale treatment of waste plastics using MOFs and COFs catalysts is discussed. Furthermore, we evaluate the economic feasibility and environmental benefits of these strategies through techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA). Finally, this review explores key challenges in process integration and large-scale production and outlines future directions to advance the practical application of these technologies within the circular carbon economy.