• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2024

In this study, vinyl waste, which is the cause of environmental pollution, is recycled via an electrospinning method and applied as a separator that can be employed for energy storage devices. In detail, vinyl wastes are dissolved in a solution containing p-xylene and cyclohexanone, followed by electrospinning to obtain a vinyl waste-derived separator(VWS), and then the hydrophilic functional groups on the surface of VWS are introduced using a plasma treatment to improve wettability. Scanning electron microscopy analysis have verified that the shape and thickness of as-spun VWS vary depending on the concentration of vinyl waste. The surface hydrophility of VWS is modified by plasma treatment with applied powers ranging from 80 to 120W. The lowest contact angle is observed when the 100W power is applied to VWS(VWS-100W). In electrochemical analysis, the VWS-100W-based supercapacitor device shows the highest specific capacitance of 57.9 F g^-1. This is ascribed to the high porosity achieved by electrospinning as well as the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups by the oxygen plasma treatment. In conclusion, vinyl waste is successfully recycled into separators for energy storage devices, suggesting a new way to reduce environmental pollution.