{
  "abstract": "The coexistence of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste and persistent organic pollutants in aquatic environments requires comprehensive circular-economy strategies to valorize PET waste into functional materials for water treatment. In this study, post-consumer PET was converted to terephthalic acid (TPA) via a neutral hydrothermal depolymerization process and was used as an organic linker for the synthesis of a Zr-based UiO-66. The recovered linker and synthesized UiO-66 were characterized by FTIR, PXRD, TEM/SAED, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, UV-vis spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and Mott–Schottky analysis. PXRD confirmed UiO-66 crystallinity, while TEM revealed nano-sized polyhedral particles with an average size of approximately 120 nm. The material exhibited a BET surface area of 822.2 m2 g−1, total pore volume of 0.379 cm3 g−1, and average pore diameter of 2.93 nm. Optical and electrochemical analyses showed a band gap of about 3.51 eV, n-type semiconducting behavior, and a flat-band potential of −0.68 V vs. Ag/AgCl. The photocatalytic activity of PET-derived UiO-66 was evaluated using methylene blue (MB) under UV light irradiation. Under optimized conditions, the catalyst achieved about 97.3% degradation with an apparent pseudo-first-order rate constant of 0.024 min−1, which was about 12 times higher than that of direct photolysis. Radical scavengers' experiments showed that hydroxyl radicals (˙OH) acted as major reactive species, followed by superoxide radicals (˙O2−) and photogenerated holes (h+). The catalyst showed good recyclability with about 86% activity retained after five cycles. These results offer an environmentally sustainable approach to recycle PET waste into a useful photocatalyst for water treatment.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University Tanta 31527 Egypt",
    "Basic and Applied Science Institute, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology New Borg El-Arab 21934 Egypt"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Samar H. Tawakey",
      "orcid": "0009-0008-7616-4497"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "A. K. Abou-Seif"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ali H. Gemeay"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Mohamad M. Ayad",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6678-1773"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e60mefyeef6n1.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ra06639a",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13656015/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "e60mefyeef6n1",
  "issns": [
    "2046-2069"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13656015",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1604|Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221516926",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13656015/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13656015",
  "pmid": "42865877",
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": "Royal Society of Chemistry",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e60mefyeef6n1.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:25Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13656015",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13656015"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:23:35Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13656015",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra06639a"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "chemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1604|Metal-Organic Frameworks: Synthesis and Applications",
      "subfield": "inorganic"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Sustainable synthesis of a Zr-based UiO-66 MOF from PET waste for UV-assisted degradation of organic contaminants",
  "title_text": "Sustainable synthesis of a Zr-based UiO-66 MOF from PET waste for UV-assisted degradation of organic contaminants",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-02T12:20:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/e60mefyeef6n1",
  "venue": "RSC advances",
  "versions": []
}