Polystyrene is used in the production of many food packaging materials, and a major drawback of polystyrene is its poor biodegradability, which leads to environmental pollution. Polystyrene can be recycled when it is clean and not mixed with other materials, but it cannot be recycled when it is contaminated or mixed with other materials. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a German research team has introduced an oxidizing biohybrid catalyst to facilitate the subsequent degradation of polystyrene microparticles. This catalyst is based on compounds known as anchor peptides, which are short peptide chains that can bind to surfaces, combined with a cobalt complex.
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