Simultaneous Achievement of High-Yield Hydrogen and High-Performance Microwave Absorption Materials from Microwave Catalytic Deconstruction of Plastic Waste

Here, FeAlOxcatalytic deconstruction of polyethylene in a domestic microwave oven is reported. With the starting weight ratio of FeAlOxto polyethylene at 1:1, the concentration and yield of H2reach up to 67.85 vol% and 48.1 mmol g−1plastic, respectively. CNTs@Fe3O4/Fe3C/Fe composite, which exhibits excellent microwave absorption properties, is generated simultaneously. The minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of the solid product reaches −54.78 dB at 15 GHz with an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.5 GHz at the thickness of 1.57 mm.Keywords:catalytic cracking;plastic waste;carbon nanotubes;hydrogen;microwave absorption