One-stone-for-two-birds strategy for upcycling plastic wastes into high-value-added medical consumables via the dip-coating technique

Abstract

With the increase in polypropylene-based medical plastic waste (e.g., disposable single-use face masks) over the past few years (especially for the COVID-19 crisis), the innovative technologies for converting medical plastic waste into high-value medical consumables have attracted more attention in the reduction of environmental pollution and the provision of digital healthcare. This research explores the potential of polypropylene substrates extracted from disposable single-use face masks to highly flexible and wearable Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), the emerging carbon-based nanomaterials, were used as high-potential electrical conductors due to their solution-processability and flexible nature to integrate with foldable polypropylene substrates, further leading to outstanding electrical performance (e.g., the sheet resistance of MWCNT-coated polypropylene composite electrode as low as 4.4 Ω/sq). In addition, ECG hybrid electrodes made of polypropylene substrates densely coated with MWCNT materials exhibited unexpected stability in commercial ECG devices. Such functional MWCNT-coated polypropylene composites as electrode materials display low sheet resistance, good flexibility, and high-quality ECG signals. We believe that this promising attempt may pave the way for simultaneously solving the plastic pollution crisis and developing flexible electronic textiles.