Gwyneth Perseveranda

What other people deem as junk, another might find it valuable. With the escalating issue of electronic waste, innovators around the world are in a quest to repurpose discarded electronics into valuable resources.


In a study pioneered by Cornell University, gold was extracted from electronic wastes and utilized the obtained metal to catalyze the conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into useful materials.

The study, published on December 30, 2024, titled “Recycling e-waste into gold-loaded covalent organic framework catalysts for terminal alkyne carboxylation” explored the method of recovering gold to convert carbon dioxide into value-added materials.

This approach not only diminishes demands for proper waste management, but also offers tangible and beneficial effects to the environment.

Lead researcher Amin Zadehnazari synthesized a pair of vinyl-linked covalent organic frameworks (VCOFs) to extract gold ions and nanoparticles from circuit boards and electronic devices.

It was illustrated in one of his VCOFs that 99.9% of the gold and other metals were selectively captured, such as nickel and copper, from the discarded electronic devices.

"We can then use the gold-loaded COFs to convert CO2 into useful chemicals," Zadehnazari said.

"By transforming CO2 into value-added materials, we not only reduce waste disposal demands, we also provide both environmental and practical benefits. It's kind of a win-win for the environment," Zadehnazari said.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are crystalline, porous organic materials with stable pores that remain intact. 

This stability allows them to store or interact with liquids, gases, or other substances without losing their porous structure.

In this study, Zadehnazari synthesized two VCOFs using tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and tetraphenylethylene (TPE) as the building blocks.

The TTF-COF demonstrated excellent gold adsorption due to its sulfur content, which naturally attracts gold. 

It also maintained high adsorption capacity even after 16 washings and reuses, with minimal loss of efficiency.

Alireza Abbaspourrad, the corresponding author of the study, stated that alternative methods for extracting gold and other useful metals from e-waste are not as selective as Zadehnazari’s idea, and usually result in impurities. 

"Knowing how much gold and other precious metals go into these types of electronic devices, being able to recover them in a way where you can selectively capture the metal you want—in this case, gold—is very important," Abbaspourrad said.