The electrochemical upconversion of plastic wastes has been demonstrated as an attractive alternative to the sluggish OER process to simultaneously produce valued chemicals and reduce the energy consumption. Herein, we report a photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic strategy to upcycle poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) into value-added formic acid products and co-produce green hydrogen. The waste PET was dissolved by KOH and then directly pumped into an electrochemical flow reactor (EFR) including CuO nanowires (NWs) anode and Pt/C 20% cathode (PV-EFR) and driven by the commercial silicon photovoltaic (PV) panels. This PV-EFR system exhibits a solar-to-chemical (STC) efficiency of 32.6% under AM 1.5 G simulated sunlight (100 mW cm⁻²), and high Faradaic efficiencies (FE, ∼ 67% for formic acid, and ∼90% for green hydrogen) with exceptional 120 h long-term stability in the STC mode. Such a photovoltaic-driven electrocatalytic strategy exhibits great potential for the rational utilization of renewable energy sources to produce high-value chemicals and fuels by upconversion of waste plastics.

塑料废物的电化学上转化已被证明是一种有吸引力的替代缓慢的 OER 过程的方法，可以同时生产有价值的化学品并减少能源消耗。在此，我们报告了一种光伏驱动的电催化策略，将聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯 (PET) 升级为增值甲酸产品并共同生产绿色氢气。废 PET 用 KOH 溶解，然后直接泵入电化学流动反应器 (EFR)，包括 CuO 纳米线 (NWs) 阳极和 Pt/C 20% 阴极 (PV-EFR)，并由商用硅光伏 (PV) 面板驱动。该 PV-EFR 系统在 AM 1.5 G 模拟阳光（100 mW cm ^-2)，以及高法拉第效率（FE，甲酸~67%，绿色氢~90%），在 STC 模式下具有出色的 120 小时长期稳定性。这种光伏驱动的电催化策略在合理利用可再生能源通过上转换废塑料生产高价值化学品和燃料方面具有巨大潜力。