Scientists have found a way to use gold nanoparticles (really tiny particles of gold) to turn polyester and biomass into something that is more valuable.
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University discovered that gold nanoparticles teamed up with a special kind of oxide called zirconium oxide could help convert waste materials like biomass and polyester into useful chemicals called organosilanes. These chemicals are used for many different things. The reaction, which is not only efficient but also eco-friendly, works thanks to the interesting combination between the gold nanoparticles and the zirconium oxide’s versatile nature.
Recycling plastic is a big part of how people are solving the world’s problem with too much plastic waste. We usually turn it into plastic products, but scientists are also looking into new ways to make use of this waste. This includes upcycling, which turns waste material into totally different things that can actually be even more valuable than what we started with!
A group of scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University lead by Professor Hiroki Miura studied how to turn plastic and biomass into organosilanes. Organosilanes are useful materials that can be used to make high-performance coatings and to create medicines or chemicals for plants. But, in order to make this happen, special tools that don’t like air or moisture need to be used and require hot temperatures, as well as acidic or basic solutions. This means that the process itself could pose a danger to the environment.
A team of scientists used a special substance made up of tiny gold particles on an oxide base, known as the hybrid catalyst material, to work with things like plastic and biomass. Under mild heating, these materials reacted with a silicon-containing compound which then created organosilane groups. After studying how the catalyst worked, they found that it caused raw materials to turn into something else under mild conditions due to the combination of both acidic and basic properties in the gold nanoparticles.
Getting rid of plastic waste is tough and usually needs high temperatures or harsh acids and bases. However, scientists have figured out that they can break down plastic into valuable chemicals in less extreme environments! This new way to make useful stuff out of plastic might help us create a world with no more plastic waste polluting the environment but instead substances that are beneficial to society.
This article is called “Diverse Alkyl–Silyl Cross-Coupling via Homolysis of Unactivated C(sp3)–O Bonds with the Cooperation of Gold Nanoparticles and Amphoteric Zirconium Oxides” and was written by Hiroki Miura, Masafumi Doi, Yuki Yasui, Yosuke Masaki, Hidenori Nishio, and Tetsuya Shishido. It was published on February 20th, 2023 in Journal of the American Chemical Society. This study talks about using gold nanoparticles and certain oxides to create a chemical reaction that joins together two elements – alkyl and silyl – which can’t typically be joined together normally.
This work was supported by four programs from the Japanese government. These include: the Program for Element Strategy Initiative for Catalysts and Batteries (ESICB), the JST FOREST Program, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) and Challenging Research (Exploratory). Lastly, it was also supported by Scientific Research on Innovative Areas.
