Influence of Pore Length on Hydrogenolysis of Polyethylene within a Mesoporous Support Architecture

Meirow, Max; Tennakoon, Akalanka; Wu, Xun; Willmon, Jarod; Howell, Daniel; Huang, Wenyu; Sadow, Aaron D.; Luijten, Erik

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c04300

Influence of Pore Length on Hydrogenolysis of Polyethylene within a Mesoporous Support Architecture

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 2023 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c04300· OSTI ID:2305644

^[1]; Tennakoon, Akalanka ^[2]; Wu, Xun ^[2]; Willmon, Jarod ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[1]

Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States); Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

Due to the plastic waste crisis, selective chemical upcycling of polyolefins into value-added products is a topic of intense interest, demanding polymer deconstruction processes that afford control over the product chain lengths. Recently, a catalytic architecture was synthesized in which a polyolefin melt infiltrates a porous support, and its chains are cleaved by a metal nanoparticle catalyst at the bottom of the pores, yielding a narrow distribution of alkane products. Although the influence of various parameters of these catalytic materials, including the effects of the nanoparticle size and pore diameter on product chain length, has been examined before, here, we investigate the role of the pore length in the cleavage process through the first study that combines catalytic hydrogenolysis and coarse-grained modeling to gain insights not available by experiment alone. We show that the pore length can permit control over the average product length with qualitative agreement between experiment and simulation. In conclusion, we go beyond this observation to uncover the dynamic phenomenon responsible for the pore-length dependence of the cleavage products.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Ames Laboratory (AMES), Ames, IA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-07CH11358

OSTI ID:: 2305644

Report Number(s):: IS-J--11,212

Journal Information:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C Journal Issue: 49 Vol. 127; ISSN 1932-7447

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Influence of Pore Length on Hydrogenolysis of Polyethylene within a Mesoporous Support Architecture

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