Innentitelbild: Mechanistic Understanding of Efficient Polyethylene Hydrocracking over Two-Dimensional Platinum-Anchored Tungsten Trioxide (Angew. Chem. 40/2023)
Graphical Abstract
Chemical upcycling of high-density polyethylene at low temperatures remains a significant challenge. In their Research Article (e202305644), Qingyue Wang, Pingwei Liu and co-workers report a two-dimensional platinum-anchored tungsten trioxide catalyst with abundant vacancies and acidic sites that converts polyethylene effectively to fuel. A quasi-operando spectroscopic study reveals that polymer chains are activated by forming olefinic intermediates, and then hydrocracked by the dissociated hydrogen on two-dimensional catalyst to form fuel alkanes.