Recycling and valorization of LDPE: direct transformation into highly ordered doped-carbon materials and their application as electro-catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction Castelo Quibén, Jesica Bailón García, Esther Moral Rodríguez, A. I. Carrasco Marín, Francisco Pérez Cadenas, Agustín Francisco This research has been supported by the Spanish projects from Junta de Andalucia P12-RNM-2892 and Grant ref. RNM172. The authors also thank the "Unidad de Excelencia Quimica Aplicada a Biomedicina y Medioambiente" of the University of Granada (UEQ -UGR) for its technical assistance. E. Bailon-Garcia is grateful to Junta de Andalucia for her postdoctoral fellowship (P18-RTJ-2974). The energy demand and the environmental situation make the development of advanced catalysts for energy applications necessary. Considering the large volumes of plastic waste, the transformation of organic polymers into advanced carbon functional materials that are able to accomplish the oxygen reduction reaction via the desired 4-electron pathway is proposed as an integrated environmental remediation, in which plastic pollutants are converted into catalysts for fuel cells. Carbon-based electrocatalysts were obtained by pyrolyzing low-density polyethylene at low temperature by an easy one-step method that involves the generation of autogenous pressure which is the responsible for the spherical shape as well as the high degree of graphitization. The addition of transition metals (Fe, Co or Ni) modifies the carbonization process and CNFs emerge. The metal-free material leads to a purely 2e− pathway; however, the presence of metals improves all electrochemical parameters and the desired 4e−pathway is achieved. The graphitization degree, the metal dispersion and the presence of CNFs are the key factors for the ORR performance. 2022-02-03T09:42:32Z 2022-02-03T09:42:32Z 2021-12-16 journal article Catal. Sci. Technol., 2022, Advance Article. DOI: [10.1039/d1cy02082j] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/72635 10.1039/d1cy02082j eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Atribución 3.0 España Royal Society of Chemistry