Hierarchical Porous 2D α-Al2O3 Nanosheet Catalyst for Aminolytic Upcycling of PET Plastic Waste

Hierarchical Porous 2D α-Al2O3 Nanosheet Catalyst for Aminolytic Upcycling of PET Plastic Waste | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Hierarchical Porous 2D α-Al2O3 Nanosheet Catalyst for Aminolytic Upcycling of PET Plastic Waste Putla Sudarsanam, Mudavath Arun Kumar, Swapna Bhattu, Nittan Singh, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7956009/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Despite its wide applicability, the synthesis of α-Al 2 O 3 with nanoscale dimensions and a well-developed porous structure continues to be a formidable challenge. This study reports the synthesis of a versatile 2-dimensional α-Al 2 O 3 nanomaterial using a simple solution combustion method. The 2D α-Al 2 O 3 nanomaterial calcined at 550°C (denoted as α-Al 2 O 3 550) exhibited unique characteristics, including a hierarchical porous structure (5–30 nm), nanosheet morphology (length: 2810–4970 nm, width: 780–973 nm, and thickness: 4.7–9.8 nm), surface-engineered grain boundaries, BET surface area of 56 m 2 /g, and optimum amount of acid sites, as confirmed by SEM, TEM, AFM, and NH 3 -TPD analyses. The 2D α-Al 2 O 3 550 nanosheet catalyst showed excellent activity in upcycling post-consumer PET plastic bottles into a valuable monomer, bis(amino-ethyl) terephthalamide (BAET), using ethylenediamine as both the reactant and solvent. An impressive 92% isolated yield of BAET was achieved over the 2D α-Al 2 O 3 550 nanosheet catalyst, outperforming several metal oxides, such as γ-Al 2 O 3 , Nb 2 O 5 , CeO 2 , and MnO x . The analysis of the spent α-Al 2 O 3 550 catalyst by powder XRD, XPS, and SEM/TEM techniques confirmed its structural and morphological stability. The catalytic process is scalable (5 g), efficiently applied for upcycling different types of post-consumer PET bottles with yields of 80%, and the green chemistry metrics demonstrate the process's sustainability. This study highlights 2D α-Al 2 O 3 550 nanomaterial as a robust and economically viable catalyst, offering a practical route for the plastic waste upcycling industry. Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Heterogeneous catalysis Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Nanoscale materials/Two-dimensional materials Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Porous materials Full Text Additional Declarations There is no conflict of interest Supplementary Files SINPGAsiaMaterials.docx Supporing Information File Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 20 Feb, 2026 Review # 2 received at journal 16 Feb, 2026 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 29 Jan, 2026 Review # 1 received at journal 24 Nov, 2025 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 05 Nov, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 05 Nov, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 30 Oct, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 25 Oct, 2025 First submitted to journal 25 Oct, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7956009","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":540266365,"identity":"6fdbdfd0-1004-4d9c-81b9-9a7b582407a8","order_by":0,"name":"Putla 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Waste","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npg-asia-materials","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"am","sideBox":"Learn more about [NPG Asia Materials](http://www.nature.com/am/)","snPcode":"41427","submissionUrl":"https://mts-am.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"NPG Asia Materials","twitterHandle":"@asiamaterials","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7956009/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7956009/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDespite its wide applicability, the synthesis of α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e with nanoscale dimensions and a well-developed porous structure continues to be a formidable challenge. This study reports the synthesis of a versatile 2-dimensional α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e nanomaterial using a simple solution combustion method. The 2D α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e nanomaterial calcined at 550\u0026deg;C (denoted as α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e 550) exhibited unique characteristics, including a hierarchical porous structure (5\u0026ndash;30 nm), nanosheet morphology (length: 2810\u0026ndash;4970 nm, width: 780\u0026ndash;973 nm, and thickness: 4.7\u0026ndash;9.8 nm), surface-engineered grain boundaries, BET surface area of 56 m\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e/g, and optimum amount of acid sites, as confirmed by SEM, TEM, AFM, and NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e-TPD analyses. The 2D α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e 550 nanosheet catalyst showed excellent activity in upcycling post-consumer PET plastic bottles into a valuable monomer, bis(amino-ethyl) terephthalamide (BAET), using ethylenediamine as both the reactant and solvent. An impressive 92% isolated yield of BAET was achieved over the 2D α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e 550 nanosheet catalyst, outperforming several metal oxides, such as γ-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e, Nb\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e5\u003c/sub\u003e, CeO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e, and MnO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e. The analysis of the spent α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e 550 catalyst by powder XRD, XPS, and SEM/TEM techniques confirmed its structural and morphological stability. The catalytic process is scalable (5 g), efficiently applied for upcycling different types of post-consumer PET bottles with yields of 80%, and the green chemistry metrics demonstrate the process's sustainability. This study highlights 2D α-Al\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003eO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e 550 nanomaterial as a robust and economically viable catalyst, offering a practical route for the plastic waste upcycling industry.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Hierarchical Porous 2D α-Al2O3 Nanosheet Catalyst for Aminolytic Upcycling of PET Plastic Waste","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-14 17:38:19","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7956009/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"revise","date":"2026-02-20T06:14:46+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-02-16T09:34:10+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-01-29T16:05:59+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2025-11-24T11:11:00+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2025-11-05T08:56:16+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-11-05T08:40:20+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-10-30T12:07:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-10-25T09:10:10+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"NPG Asia Materials","date":"2025-10-25T09:10:09+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npg-asia-materials","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"am","sideBox":"Learn more about [NPG Asia Materials](http://www.nature.com/am/)","snPcode":"41427","submissionUrl":"https://mts-am.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex","title":"NPG Asia Materials","twitterHandle":"@asiamaterials","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ceebf0d2-3c96-43d8-b925-4a0d2b9ded3f","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 14th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":57466476,"name":"Physical sciences/Chemistry/Catalysis/Heterogeneous catalysis"},{"id":57466477,"name":"Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology/Nanoscale materials/Two-dimensional materials"},{"id":57466478,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science/Materials for energy and catalysis/Porous materials"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-18T11:30:34+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-14 17:38:19","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7956009","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7956009","identity":"rs-7956009","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}