Student Research: William Cheung & Dr. Yalan Xing
Polystyrene Upcycling via Visible Light Photocatalysis
Dr. Yalan Xing and William’s intention for their research is to investigate more environmentally conscience methods for upcycling polystyrene. Conventional methods produce high temperatures, which makes photocatalysis appealing; it produces milder temperatures while being more energy efficient.
William described their process to be two steps: the oxidation of polystyrene to polystyrene hydrogen peroxide, and then rearranging it under acidic conditions. Acetic acid and phenol, two industrially important regents, will be the outcome of this reaction. So far, they have explored the reaction by using a model compound and are looking forward to soon applying their findings to polystyrene.
