Upcycling of waste plastics to carbon nanomaterials

More than 300 million metric tons of plastic waste is produced annually, with less than 10% of them being recycled. Upcycling plastic waste to value-added carbon nanomaterials is a promising approach that has been intensely studied during the past decade. In this chapter, we have summarized the various methodologies that were applied in converting plastic wastes to carbon nanomaterials, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, and other graphitic carbons. The decomposition process of plastic waste is first briefly introduced and then followed by the review on typical methods to fabricate carbon nanomaterials from plastic wastes. The equipment, reaction parameters, selectivity and yield of the carbon products, and growth mechanisms and limitation of these technologies are presented and discussed in this chapter.