A simple sunlight-driven process transforms plastic waste into hydrogen and other useful chemicals. The process, called photoreforming, is simple. They drop the photocatalyst onto the plastic then immerse the plastic in an alkaline solution. Irradiation with sunlight reduces water from the solution to hydrogen while the plastic polymers simultaneously oxidise to small organic molecules. The group tested the system by photoreforming three common polymers; polylactic acid, polyethylene terphthalate and polyurethane. The results matched those of state-of-the-art hydrogen evolution photocatalysis systems that employed expensive sacrificial reagents.
