Abstract
Aluminum loaded silica aerogel based catalysts were synthesized by impregnation of aluminum into silica aerogel produced using sol-gel method in different aluminum loadings (2.5–15 wt%) to investigate their performances in degradation of polylactic acid (PLA).
Synthesized catalysts showed Type IV isotherm with H1 hysteresis which indicates the mesoporosity of the materials. They have demonstrated favorable properties in terms of high surface area (743–510 m2/g), pore volume (1.79–0.69 cm3/g), and pore diameter (6.38–3.60 nm) depending on aluminum loading amounts.
Thermogravimetric analysis demonstrated that metal loaded silica aerogel catalysts have an influence on degradation profile of PLA. A noticeable reduction in the activation energy for the PLA degradation was attained with an increase in aluminum loading. These findings show that silica aerogel catalysts are promising for the recycling processes of PLA with their pore characteristics and their acidity affect the degradation performance significantly.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Middle East Technical University Research Fund for the financial support attained to the project with the number DKT-304-2018-30717 and Central Laboratory of Middle East Technical University for analyses.
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