Photocatalytic Conversion of Waste Plastics into C 2 Fuels under Simulated Natural Environment Conditions

Abstract Reported here is the first highly selective conversion of various waste plastics into C 2 fuels under simulated natural environment conditions by a sequential photoinduced C−C cleavage and coupling pathway, where single‐use bags, disposable food containers, food wrap films, and their main components of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride can be photocatalytically transformed into CH 3 COOH without using sacrificial agents. As an example, polyethylene is photodegraded 100 % into CO 2 within 40 h by single‐unit‐cell thick Nb 2 O 5 layers, while the produced CO 2 is further photoreduced to CH 3 COOH. Various methods and experiments disclose that O 2 and . OH radicals trigger the oxidative C−C cleavage of polyethylene to form CO 2 , while other investigations show that the yielded CH 3 COOH stems from CO 2 photoreduction by C−C coupling of . COOH intermediates. This two‐step plastic‐to‐fuel conversion may help to simultaneously address the white pollution crisis and harvest highly valuable multicarbon fuels in natural environments.