Catalytic carbon and hydrogen cycles in plastics chemistry

The soaring demands, production, and disposal of plastics have caused a great burden on the environment. Chemical degradation and catalytic transformation techniques are capable of decomposing or converting plastics into value-added chemicals, fuels, and functional nanocarbons. These techniques include thermal treatments, advanced oxidation, photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and solvolysis. Understanding the transformation routes and destinations of the carbon and hydrogen elements in plastics is important for the development of advanced techniques to achieve plastic circular economy. To this end, we present an overview of the recent advances in carbon and hydrogen circulations by catalytic technologies in plastic chemistry. Insights will be provided to achieve material and economic sustainability via plastic recycling/upgrading toward a closed loop across energy, chemistry, and environmental sectors.