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Lai PH, Hall SL, Lan YC, Ai JR, Jaberi A, Sheikhi A, Shi R, Vogt BD, Gomez ED. Upcycling plastic waste into fully recyclable composites through cold sintering. MATERIALS HORIZONS 2024; 11:2718-2728. [PMID: 38506669 DOI: 10.1039/d3mh01976d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Plastics have substantial societal benefits, but their widespread use has led to a critical waste management challenge. While mechanical recycling dominates the reuse of post-consumer plastics, it is limited in efficacy, especially for composites. To address this, we propose a direct reprocessing approach that enables the creation of hybrid, long-lasting, and durable composites from difficult-to-recycle plastics. This approach utilizes cold sintering, a process that consolidates inorganic powders through fractional dissolution and precipitation at temperatures far below conventional sintering; these temperatures are compatible with plastic processing. We show that this process can create inorganic-matrix composites with significant enhancements in tensile strength and toughness over pure gypsum, which is commonly found in construction waste. These composites can be recycled multiple times through direct reprocessing with the addition of only water as a processing promoter. This approach to recycling leads to composites with orders of magnitude lower energy demand, global warming potential, and water demand, when compared against common construction products. Altogether, we demonstrate the potential for cold sintering to integrate waste into high-performance recyclable composites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Po-Hao Lai
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Shelby L Hall
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Yi-Chen Lan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Jia-Ruey Ai
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Arian Jaberi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Amir Sheikhi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Rui Shi
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Bryan D Vogt
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Enrique D Gomez
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
- Department of Material Science and Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Yasui K, Hamamoto K. Possibility of High Ionic Conductivity and High Fracture Toughness in All-Dislocation-Ceramics. MATERIALS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2024; 17:428. [PMID: 38255595 PMCID: PMC10817447 DOI: 10.3390/ma17020428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Based on the results of numerical calculations as well as those of some related experiments which are reviewed in the present paper, it is suggested that solid electrolytes filled with appropriate dislocations, which is called all-dislocation-ceramics, are expected to have considerably higher ionic conductivity and higher fracture toughness than those of normal solid electrolytes. Higher ionic conductivity is due to the huge ionic conductivity along dislocations where the formation energy of vacancies is considerably lower than that in the bulk solid. Furthermore, in all-dislocation- ceramics, dendrite formation could be avoided. Higher fracture toughness is due to enhanced emissions of dislocations from a crack tip by pre-existing dislocations, which causes shielding of a crack tip, energy dissipation due to plastic deformation and heating, and crack-tip blunting. All-dislocation-ceramics may be useful for all-solid-state batteries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyuichi Yasui
- National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Nagoya 463-8560, Japan;
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Jabr A, Fanghanel J, Fan Z, Bermejo R, Randall C. The effect of liquid phase chemistry on the densification and strength of cold sintered ZnO. Ann Ital Chir 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.11.071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
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Liang J, Zhao X, Kang S, Guo J, Chen Z, Long Y, Zeng Q, Sun J, Yang L, Liao R, Randall CA. Microstructural evolution of ZnO via hybrid cold sintering/spark plasma sintering. Ann Ital Chir 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.06.069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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