Chemical upcycling of waste plastics represents an appealing way to achieve a circular economy and mitigate environmental problems but remains a huge challenge. Herein, we report a heterojunction photocatalyst (ZnInFe‐mixed metal oxide, denoted as ZnInFe‐MMO) for the rapid valorization of polylactic acid (PLA) via a developed alkali‐assisted photocatalysis system. The ZnInFe‐MMO featured with a double Z‐Scheme structure is favorable for light harvesting and electron‐hole separation. Moreover, the operando characterizations and theoretical simulations confirm that the ZnInFe‐MMO affords a remarkably decreased barrier for the rate‐determining step (formation of *LA intermediate) while inhibiting the CC breakage in the side reaction. As a result, the ZnInFe‐MMO attains a ~100% conversion and ~99% selectivity toward sodium lactate (NaLA), which is preponderant to the state‐of‐the‐art photocatalysts. In addition, such an effective route is also demonstrated in various real‐world PLA waste.

中文翻译：

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ZnInFe混合金属氧化物驱动的塑料聚乳酸废料的超快和高选择性升级回收


废塑料的化学升级回收是实现循环经济和缓解环境问题的一种有吸引力的方式，但仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在此，我们报道了一种异质结光催化剂（ZnInFe混合金属氧化物，表示为ZnInFe-MMO），通过开发的碱辅助光催化系统快速增值聚乳酸（PLA）。 ZnInFe-MMO具有双Z型结构，有利于光捕获和电子空穴分离。此外，操作表征和理论模拟证实，ZnInFe-MMO 为限速步骤（*LA 中间体的形成）提供了显着降低的势垒，同时抑制了副反应中的 C-C 断裂。因此，ZnInFe-MMO 对乳酸钠 (NaLA) 的转化率约为 100%，选择性约为 99%，这优于最先进的光催化剂。此外，这种有效的途径也在各种现实世界的 PLA 废物中得到了证明。