Physicochemical reactions in e-waste recycling.

Electronic waste (e-waste) recycling is becoming a global concern owing to its immense quantity, hazardous character and the potential loss of valuable metals. The many processes involved in e-waste recycling stem from a mixture of physicochemical reactions, and understanding the principles of these reactions can lead to more efficient recycling methods. In this Review, we discuss the principles behind photochemistry, thermochemistry, mechanochemistry, electrochemistry and sonochemistry for metal recovery, polymer decomposition and pollutant elimination from e-waste.

Intelligent leaching rare earth elements from waste fluorescent lamps.

Rare earth elements (REEs), one of the global key strategic resources, are widely applied in electronic information and national defense, etc. The sharply increasing demand for REEs leads to their overexploitation and environmental pollution. Recycling REEs from their second resources such as waste fluorescent lamps (WFLs) is a win-win strategy for REEs resource utilization and environmental production.

Utilizing E-Waste for Construction of Magnetic and Core-Shell Z-Scheme Photocatalysts: An Effective Approach to E-Waste Recycling.

The increasingly large stream of e-waste is seriously threatening the environment; meanwhile, global energy shortage is on the rise. Based on the principles of energy regeneration and waste utilization, we introduced a win-win approach to utilize waste capacitors for construction of magnetic and core-shell Z-scheme Nb-Pb-codoped BaTiO/Ni-Pd@graphite-like carbon nitride (g-CN) photocatalysts for H evolution. Using simple ball-milling, waste capacitors were transformed to Nb-Pb-codoped BaTiO/Ni-Pd-Ag-Sn nanoparticles and g-CN was coated on the nanoparticles, forming a core-shell structure.