US 12110350 B1Patent grantUnited States

Waste-Plastic Smart Optical Material

Official patent title

Smart optical material and method of making thereof

Arabic title: مادة بصرية ذكية وطريقة تصنيعها

Invention

Problem

Waste polypropylene is difficult to biodegrade, and conventional mechanical recycling can reduce material properties rather than converting the waste into a higher-value functional material.

Why it matters

Converting persistent plastic waste into optical or electronic materials could couple waste management with the production of functional photonic components.

Approach

The method incorporates polypropylene, including waste polypropylene embodiments, into a poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) matrix containing rhodamine B and a zinc salt. Polymerization produces a material with two stated bandgaps and defined absorption, fluorescence, laser, thermal, and impedance characteristics.

Who may benefit

Potential beneficiaries include plastic-recycling innovators, photonics laboratories, laser-material developers, optoelectronics researchers, and specialty-polymer manufacturers.

Potential value

The technology turns polypropylene into part of a hybrid optical material whose electronic bandgaps and spectral response are defined in the publication, creating a potential value-added reuse pathway.

Background

Polypropylene is widely used but has a carbon backbone that resists biodegradation, contributing to persistent waste. Mechanical recycling can grind, melt, and remold plastic, but repeated processing may reduce physical properties. Chemical reuse offers a route to convert waste into a new functional composition rather than reproducing the original commodity material. The publication combines polypropylene with a polymerized hydroxyethyl-methacrylate matrix, rhodamine B, and a zinc salt to create an optical material for laser and optoelectronic research.

Technology overview

Polypropylene is dissolved to form a first solution. Zinc salt is mixed with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, then rhodamine B and a peroxide initiator are added. Combining the solutions polymerizes the methacrylate around the polypropylene and dye. After processing, the separated material is described as nonaggregated particles with two bandgaps, visible fluorescence and laser peaks, semiconductor behavior, and a measurable impedance response.

Potential applications

Active material for experimental laser systems operating at the reported visible peaks.
Hybrid semiconductor material for optoelectronic device research.
Spectrally responsive particles for optical sensing and photonics studies.
Value-added chemical reuse of waste polypropylene in specialty materials.

Evidence-supported advantages

Waste polypropylene can be incorporated into the disclosed functional material.
The material has two stated electronic bandgaps rather than a single reported transition.
The publication describes absorption, fluorescence, laser, thermal, and impedance characterization.
Rhodamine B and polypropylene are described as homogeneously dispersed in the polymer matrix.
The claims cover both the preparation method and a laser system containing the material.

Development stage

Laboratory synthesis and optical, electrical, and thermal characterization are described; commercialization was not established.

Commercial opportunity

The material may support licensing discussions with photonics, specialty-polymer, or advanced-recycling partners. Device-oriented development should verify optical gain, lifetime, batch consistency, waste-feedstock tolerance, solvent recovery, process safety, and integration into a defined laser or optoelectronic architecture. Cost and throughput benchmarks would also be needed.

Patent classifications

WIPO IPC

C08F120/06Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
C08F2/06Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds

CPC

C08F120/06Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
C08F2/06Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
C08F2/44Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
C08F220/20Macromolecular compounds obtained by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
C08L23/06Compositions of macromolecular compounds
C08L33/066Compositions of macromolecular compounds
H01S5/36Devices using light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation [LASER] to amplify or generate light; stimulated-emission devices for non-optical electromagnetic radiation

Inventors

First inventorHajo Idriss Mohammed Idriss
InventorKhalid Hassan Ibnouf Ahmed
InventorOsamah Abdulrahman Aldaghri
InventorAbueliz Khalid Modwi Khalid
InventorAmin Osman Elzupir Alamalhuda

Keywords

smart optical material
polypropylene
chemical recycling
rhodamine B
poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)
bandgap
laser material
optoelectronics

Patent document and drawings

The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.