ZnO-porous graphite composites, their use and manufacture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11192795-B2
Application number	US-201916400358-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2019
Priority date	May 1, 2019
Publication date	Dec 7, 2021
Grant date	Dec 7, 2021

Abstract

High surface area 3D mesoporous carbon nanocomposites can be derived from Zn dust and PET bottle mixed waste with a high surface area. Simultaneous transformation of Zn metal into ZnO nanoparticles and PET bottle waste to porous carbon materials can be achieved by thermal treatment at preferably 600 to 800° C., and reaction times of from 15 to 60 minutes, after optionally de-aerating the reaction mixtures with N2 gas. The waste-based carbon materials can have surface areas of 650 to 725 m2/g, e.g., 684.5 m2/g and pore size distributions of 12 to 18 nm. The carbon materials may have 3D porous dense layers with a gradient pore structure, which may have enhanced photocatalytic performance for degrading, e.g., organic dyes, such as methylene blue and malachite green. Sustainable methods make ZnO-mesoporous carbon materials from waste for applications including photocatalysis, upcycling mixed waste materials.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
pyrolyzing a mixture comprising polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and metallic zinc, in a PET-to-zinc weight ratio of from 1000:1 to 5:1, at a temperature of 400° C. or more in an inert atmosphere, to obtain a mesoporous composition comprising elemental carbon and ZnO.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolyzing is performed at a temperature in a range of from 500 to 800° C.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PET comprises at least 50 wt. % PET bottle waste, relative to all of the PET in the mixture.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PET is at least 90 wt. % of carbon-containing material in the mixture.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the elemental carbon is present in the mesoporous composition in an amount of from 40 to 90 wt. % of total composition weight.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the elemental carbon is at least 75 wt. % graphite, relative to all of the elemental carbon in the mesoporous composition.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metallic zinc comprises at least 75 wt. % zinc dust, relative to all of the metallic zinc in the mixture.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metallic zinc is at least 90 wt. % of all metals in the mixture.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolyzing comprises heating a container sealed at ambient pressure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolyzing is performed for a duration of from 30 to 120 minutes.

Assignees

• Univ Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal

Inventors

• Mohamed Hanan Hussein Amin
• Alsanea Aamerah Abdulwahab
• Alomair Nuhad Abdullah
• Akhtar Sultan

Classifications

• B01J2235/15

  X-ray diffraction · CPC title

• B01J2235/00

  Indexing scheme associated with group B01J35/00, related to the analysis techniques used to determine the catalysts form or properties · CPC title

• B01J2235/30

  Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy · CPC title

• B01J35/393

  Metal or metal oxide crystallite size · CPC title

• B01J35/45

  Nanoparticles · CPC title