Boron nitride nanosheets decorated with Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a magnetic bifunctional catalyst for post‐consumer PET wastes recycling

Abstract

Abstract Due to its enormous consumption in various fields and also the non-degradability, recycling of polyethylene terephthalate is critical for waste management causing reduction in disposal, oil use, and carbon dioxide emissions. Among various recycling methods, glycolysis of PET was carried out because of milder reaction conditions and yielding bis(hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) as valuable versatile monomer. To conduct an efficient PET glycolysis, a recyclable bifunctional nanomaterial including highly dispersible Fe3O4 nanoparticles immobilized on hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (h-BNNS) as important two-dimensional nanomaterials are chosen. A simple solvothermal method was used for decoration of h-BNNS with Fe3O4 nanoparticles. After characterization of prepared material, investigation of catalytic activity for glycolysis of recycled PET bottles under different conditions have been conducted which shows a rapid complete reaction with high BHET yield in the presence of very low amount of the catalyst. After reaction completion, the catalyst was easily recycled by an external magnet for several runs without considerable loss of catalytic activity.