A Direct Route for Upcycling Electronic Waste Into High-Performance Palladium Catalysts
Abstract
Conversion to a circular economy needs efficient methods to recover critical metals from electronic waste. Here, we demonstrate a two‐step, purification‐free process to transform palladium contained in waste multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) into highly active heterogeneous catalysts. After acid leaching, Pd(II) was selectively extracted (97%–100% yield) using di‐ n ‐octyl sulfide (DOS) or N , N , N ′, N ′‐tetrahexylmalonamide (THMA), then directly impregnated onto γ ‐Al 2 O 3 . The resulting catalysts—containing residual Ag or Bi—showed activity at the level of a commercial reference (1 wt% Pd on γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ) in methane oxidation ( T 50 = 325°C–327°C) and hindered olefin hydrogenation (quantitative conversion during the first cycle at 185°C/20 bar), suggesting reasonable tolerance to metallic impurities. Notably, DOS‐extracted catalysts retained full activity despite sulfur content (0.5–0.6 wt%), while THMA‐derived systems showed three times higher intrinsic activity than the reference catalyst at 350°C. HRTEM‐EDS revealed well‐dispersed Pd or Pd/Ag nanoparticles. This approach eliminates the need for complete Pd purification, offering a sustainable route to upcycle complex e‐waste into value‐added materials for industrial catalysis.
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BibTeX
@article{morales2026direct,
title = {{A Direct Route for Upcycling Electronic Waste Into High-Performance Palladium Catalysts}},
author = {M. Morales and D. Nikolaievskyi and N. Haidar and E. Biancarelli and E. Airiau and J. Rousset and L. Burel and F. Morfin and H. Kaper and D. Bourgeois},
journal = {ChemCatChem},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/cctc.71112},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05838782v1},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A Direct Route for Upcycling Electronic Waste Into High-Performance Palladium Catalysts
AU - M. Morales
AU - D. Nikolaievskyi
AU - N. Haidar
AU - E. Biancarelli
AU - E. Airiau
AU - J. Rousset
AU - L. Burel
AU - F. Morfin
AU - H. Kaper
AU - D. Bourgeois
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
JO - ChemCatChem
DO - 10.1002/cctc.71112
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05838782v1
AB - Conversion to a circular economy needs efficient methods to recover critical metals from electronic waste. Here, we demonstrate a two‐step, purification‐free process to transform palladium contained in waste multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) into highly active heterogeneous catalysts. After acid leaching, Pd(II) was selectively extracted (97%–100% yield) using di‐ n ‐octyl sulfide (DOS) or N , N , N ′, N ′‐tetrahexylmalonamide (THMA), then directly impregnated onto γ ‐Al 2 O 3 . The resulting catalysts—containing residual Ag or Bi—showed activity at the level of a commercial reference (1 wt% Pd on γ ‐Al 2 O 3 ) in methane oxidation ( T 50 = 325°C–327°C) and hindered olefin hydrogenation (quantitative conversion during the first cycle at 185°C/20 bar), suggesting reasonable tolerance to metallic impurities. Notably, DOS‐extracted catalysts retained full activity despite sulfur content (0.5–0.6 wt%), while THMA‐derived systems showed three times higher intrinsic activity than the reference catalyst at 350°C. HRTEM‐EDS revealed well‐dispersed Pd or Pd/Ag nanoparticles. This approach eliminates the need for complete Pd purification, offering a sustainable route to upcycle complex e‐waste into value‐added materials for industrial catalysis.
SN - 1867-3880
SN - 1867-3899
ER -