NaOH solution-assisted pyrolysis of waste polycarbonate for co-production of phenolic compounds and supercapacitor material

A green way for the sustainable utilization of waste polycarbonate (PC) was developed, i.e., NaOH solution-assisted pyrolysis to co-produce phenolic compounds and supercapacitor material. A lab-scale setup was employed for the pyrolysis of PC to explore the regulation effects of NaOH concentration and pyrolytic temperature on the production of phenol and 4-isopropenylphenol (IPP). The yields of phenol and IPP were up to 35.3 wt% and 29.9 wt% at 600 °C and NaOH concentration of 0.5 mol/L, which were much higher than those from pure PC pyrolysis (7.2 wt% and 3.6 wt%). Furthermore, the pyrolytic solid residue was directly subjected to the high-temperature activation to prepare activated carbon, which could be used as a supercapacitor material with an outstanding specific gravimetric capacitance of 182.1 F/g at 1 A/g.