Degradation of Organic Coatings via UV-Generated Sulfate Radicals

Abstract

Valuable substrate recycling mostly relied on the degradation of organic coatings. The composition-depending degradation characteristic constrains the notable application progress for all the strategies development in this aspect. In this work, we introduce a novel strategy to degrade organic coatings by utilizing UV-generated sulfate radicals. The sulfate radicals are produced by UV exposure towards ammonium persulfate which later induces various organic coating degradation, including alginate and chitosan layer-by-layer assembled coating as well as polydopamine coating. This strategy also enabled the separation of the adherent substrate through adhesive polymer degradation, residing between the substrates. This versatile approach facilitates the complete degradation of organic coatings in aqueous conditions overcoming the composition-depending restriction essential in substrate original surface properties recovery.