Dynamic redox reactivation of platinum sites for long-term glycolate electrosynthesis from polyethylene terephthalate wastes
- 1School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
Abstract
Glycolates are indispensable in the health, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, whereas their mainstream production involve toxic chemicals and harsh operating condition. An alternative route for glycolate production is electrifying ethylene glycol (EG) that originates from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) but suffers from poor durability of active platinum site that tend to deactivate. Herein, we demonstrate a dynamic redox reactivation strategy, which alternates between working potential for oxidizing EG to glycolate and nonworking potential for reviving active platinum sites by the chemical reduction of adsorbed EG, realizing an unprecedented stability for over 3000 hours under average current density of ∼220 milliamperes per square centimeter. Upscaling this approach, the assembled electrolyzer drives a record current of 10 amperes at 1.18 volts for repeatable 40 batches of glycolates electrosynthesis, with each batch converting 48.0 grams of PET to 11.6 grams of glycolates (52.8% yield), 37.7 grams of p-phthalic acid (95.8% yield), 248.7 grams of NaHSO4 (95.2% yield) and ∼11.5 liters of hydrogen, showcasing a considerable revenue of ∼$1072 per ton glycolate.
Related
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- Selective Upcycling of Waste PET into Di(2-ethylhexyl) Terephthalate via a Hybrid Organometallic Catalytic Strategy for PVC Plasticizer Applications
- Late-Stage Electrosynthesis of Sulfoxide Metabolites from Phenothiazine-Based Antipsychotic Drugs
BibTeX
@article{xiao2026dynamic,
title = {{Dynamic redox reactivation of platinum sites for long-term glycolate electrosynthesis from polyethylene terephthalate wastes}},
author = {Zehao Xiao and Hongyu Guo and Yu Gu and Changze Wei and Zheng Lin and Mingchuan Luo and Shaojun Guo},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aei5545},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aei5545},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dynamic redox reactivation of platinum sites for long-term glycolate electrosynthesis from polyethylene terephthalate wastes
AU - Zehao Xiao
AU - Hongyu Guo
AU - Yu Gu
AU - Changze Wei
AU - Zheng Lin
AU - Mingchuan Luo
AU - Shaojun Guo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aei5545
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/sciadv.aei5545
AB - Glycolates are indispensable in the health, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, whereas their mainstream production involve toxic chemicals and harsh operating condition. An alternative route for glycolate production is electrifying ethylene glycol (EG) that originates from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) but suffers from poor durability of active platinum site that tend to deactivate. Herein, we demonstrate a dynamic redox reactivation strategy, which alternates between working potential for oxidizing EG to glycolate and nonworking potential for reviving active platinum sites by the chemical reduction of adsorbed EG, realizing an unprecedented stability for over 3000 hours under average current density of ∼220 milliamperes per square centimeter. Upscaling this approach, the assembled electrolyzer drives a record current of 10 amperes at 1.18 volts for repeatable 40 batches of glycolates electrosynthesis, with each batch converting 48.0 grams of PET to 11.6 grams of glycolates (52.8% yield), 37.7 grams of p-phthalic acid (95.8% yield), 248.7 grams of NaHSO4 (95.2% yield) and ∼11.5 liters of hydrogen, showcasing a considerable revenue of ∼$1072 per ton glycolate.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -