Solar energy transforms polystyrene waste into valuable chemicals using sulfur

Turning waste into wealth may no longer be just a marketing slogan, as a team of researchers in China has found an eco-friendly way to do exactly that. The abundant sunlight our planet receives was put to use for transforming polystyrene waste, one of the world's largest plastic polluters, into useful chemicals that can help advance the semiconductor industry. By adding elemental sulfur (S₈), they converted the plastic waste into two useful molecules: 2,4-diphenylthiophene and 1,3,5-triphenylbenzene. The first can be transformed into materials used in optoelectronics and high-performance semiconductors, while the second has a unique, rigid planar structure that makes it a great building block for creating advanced functional materials.