近日，中国科学院大连化物所陈庆安团队实现了单质硫驱动聚苯乙烯的太阳能升级回收。相关论文于2026年2月24日发表在《美国化学会志》上。

聚苯乙烯（PS）是应用最广泛的塑料之一，其极低的回收率促使人们考虑对废弃PS进行化学升级转化。目前已有大量研究探索氧化方法，利用分子氧将PS升级转化为含氧产物。硫作为氧的同族元素，在PS升级转化中却鲜有应用。此外，单质硫目前还面临年产量过剩的问题。

研究组报道了一种利用太阳能驱动，将PS和单质硫共升级转化为2,4-二苯基噻吩和1,3,5-三苯基苯的方法。通过在无溶剂、环境空气条件下快速高效地转化各种消费后废弃PS塑料，证明了该策略的实用性。单质硫的光热效应及其在高温下产生硫自由基是实现这一转化的关键。对二聚体和四聚体PS模型化合物的实验和计算研究表明，硫自由基介导的氢原子提取是维持反应进行的关键。这些发现为单质硫的光热行为和反应特性提供了重要见解，并对聚合物转化具有深远意义。

附：英文原文

Title: Solar-Driven Upcycling of Polystyrene Enabled by Elemental Sulfur

Author: Yong Liu, Heng Liu, Zhi-Hui Wang, Yilitabaier Julaiti, Zhang-Pei Chen, Jian-She Hu, Qing-An Chen

Issue&Volume: February 24, 2026

Abstract: Polystyrene (PS) is one of the most widely used plastics, and its notably low recycling rate has prompted the consideration of chemical upcycling of waste PS. Oxidative methodologies have been extensively investigated, employing molecular oxygen to upcycle PS into oxygenated products. Sulfur, a group congener of oxygen, has rarely been exploited in PS upcycling. Furthermore, elemental sulfur currently confronts an issue of an annual production surplus. Here, we report the coupcycling of PS and elemental sulfur into 2,4-diphenylthiophene and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene by leveraging solar energy as the driving force. The practicality of this strategy is demonstrated by the rapid and efficient conversion of various postconsumer waste PS plastics under solvent-free, ambient air conditions. The photothermal effect of elemental sulfur and the generation of sulfur radicals at elevated temperatures are critical to enable this transformation. Experimental and computational studies of dimeric and tetrameric PS model compounds show that sulfur-radical-mediated hydrogen atom abstraction is the key to sustaining the reaction. These findings provide valuable insights into the photothermal behavior and reaction characteristics of elemental sulfur and hold significant implications for polymer conversion.

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c01318

Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.6c01318