Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials were recycled by physical methods for a long time. Chemical degradation and recycling of PET materials draw more and more attention in recent years. In this work, PET materials were degraded and recycled via selective cleavage of ester bonds using ZnCl₂ as catalysts in aqueous solution. Degradation system 70% ZnCl₂/H₂O presented excellent catalytic properties due to the coordination catalysis of Zn²⁺. Monomers terephthalic acid (TPA) was reclaimed at 180 °C for 8 h. The yield of TPA reached up to 98.31%, and the purity of TPA was up to 97.14%. The degradation system ZnCl₂/H₂O solution was recycled and reused for 3 times, and the degradation ratio of PET materials was still up to 100%. In the degradation process, no organic solvent was added. The work provides a green and sustainable strategy to recover high-value-added chemicals (TPA) from waste PET materials in aqueous phase.

聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET）材料通过物理方法回收了很长时间。近年来，PET材料的化学降解和回收利用越来越受到关注。在这项工作中，使用ZnCl ₂作为水溶液中的催化剂，通过酯键的选择性裂解来降解和回收PET材料。70％ZnCl ₂ / H ₂ O降解体系由于具有Zn ²⁺的配位催化作用，因此具有优异的催化性能。对苯二甲酸（TPA）单体在180°C下回收8小时。TPA的收率达到98.31％，TPA的纯度达到97.14％。降解系统ZnCl ₂ / H ₂O溶液被回收再利用3次，PET材料的降解率仍高达100％。在降解过程中，不添加有机溶剂。这项工作提供了一种绿色，可持续的策略，可以从废PET原料中回收水相中的高附加值化学品（TPA）。