Wendy Plump
Princeton University
Department of Chemistry
Using photothermal energy to advance chemical recycling, the Stache Lab announces a depolymerization method that relies on heat generated by nanoparticles to affect a broad level of spatial and temporal control.
In research published this week, the team activated carbon quantum dots, which they introduced into bulk polymers, with LED light. Upon irradiation, the nanoparticles generated localized thermal gradients capable of depolymerizing certain commercial plastics – in which only the portion of the material proximate to the nanoparticles is unzipped.