Classification of waste plastics for dimension-controlled graphene growth on natural mineral substrates in terms of polymer processing and thermal techniques

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90914-3.00012-7

Plastic materials have become inevitable daily-life products in modern life due to their low cost, high strength, and suitability for many applications. However, wide utilization of them in many areas causes significant high-volume plastic wastes that threaten the ecosystem, soil, water, and human health. Indeed, recycling is used to decrease the plastic waste amount; however, recycled plastics do not have the same performance as virgin plastic composites. Converting the plastic wastes into high-value-added carbon materials by upcycling provides several benefits because it is an effective method in terms of cost and sustainability. A wide range of waste plastics such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, textile products, organic wastes, and metal wastes are used for upcycling. Moreover, there are few attempts at the growth of carbon-based structures on mineral substrates. Related to recent studies, this chapter focuses on the classification of polyolefin and aromatic polymer-based plastic wastes for the growth of upcycled graphene on natural mineral substrates. In this regard, the impact of both polymer processing techniques and heat-treatment on the chemical, structural, and morphological features of the resultant hybrid additives were comprehended in detail. In addition, an understanding of the influence of polymer backbone on the upcycled graphene growth was provided. Beyond, controlling the dimension of the upcycled graphene growth on natural mineral substrates related to the used mineral size was comprehensively discussed. Consequently, in this chapter, the effect of polymer processing techniques, heat treatment, and mineral size are investigated to choose a selective method for the conversion of plastic wastes into 2D and 3D graphene structures by a circular economy targeted upcycling process in terms of the plastic waste types and their chain length and aromaticity degree.