Highly Efficient Recycling Waste Plastic into Hydrogen and Carbon Nanotubes through a Double Layer Microwave‐Assisted Pyrolysis Method

Abstract Microwave‐assisted pyrolysis of PE to hydrogen and carbon material has great potential to solve the problem of waste PE induced white pollution and provide a promising way to produce hydrogen energy. To increase the hydrogen yield, a new microwave‐assisted pyrolysis procedure should be developed. In the present study, a facile double‐layer microwave‐assisted pyrolysis (DLMP) method is developed to pyrolyze PE. Within this method, PE can be converted to hydrogen, multiwalled carbon nanotubes with extremely high efficiency compared with the traditional methods. A high hydrogen yield of 66.4 mmol g −1 PE is achieved, which is ≈93% of the upper limit of the theoretical hydrogen yield generated from the PE pyrolysis process. The mechanism of high hydrogen yield during the microwave‐assisted pyrolysis of PE using the DLMP method is also clarified in detail. The DLMP method paved the potential way for recycling plastic waste into high‐value‐added products.