Freshwater resources are precious, as only 1% of Earth's freshwater is suitable for direct human use. Rapid industrialization has significantly contaminated freshwater resources with non-biodegradable and toxic organic contaminants, such as insecticides, pharmaceuticals, and artificial additives. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have proven to be effective in removing a wide range of organic pollutants from water. In AOPs, an effective catalyst is important in activation of peroxides to generate reactive species for oxidation of organic pollutants. Meanwhile, polymeric wastes including plastics and tyres are fast accumulated in landfills around the world as solid pollutants and are producing significant environmental impacts on eco-system and human being. Given their predominant carbon composition, upcycling of these wastes into value-added products is essential for carbon circular economy and environmental sustainability.
In the past years, we have investigated the different techniques for conversion of polymeric wastes into carbon-based catalysts for AOPs. We developed a salt template method to efficiently convert waste plastic and tyres into porous carbon and single atom-based catalysts and found that these catalysts have demonstrated excellent performance in catalytic degradation of various organic pollutants in water. Our work provides a promising approach to upcycling solid waste to value-added functional carbon and single atom catalysts and contributes to the development of AOPs for practical water purification.