Reusing Poly(ether sulfone) Waste via Friedel–Crafts Alkylation for Bacterial Elimination

Poly(ether sulfone) (PES) is a high-performance engineering plastic with extensive applications in the electronics and medical industries. Given the substantial generation of PES waste, the recycling and reuse of PES have emerged as critical issues. Traditional recycling methods are both time-consuming and economically burdensome; therefore, the development of an environmentally friendly and efficient method for recycling and reusing PES waste is urgently needed. Herein, we developed an innovative approach to reuse PES waste as antibacterial polymers (PES-3TDETA-Cl) by Friedel–Crafts alkylation. PES-3TDETA-Cl had excellent antibacterial effects against Escherichia coli (>99.999%) and Staphylococcus aureus (>99.988%) by releasing active chlorine. Moreover, PES-3TDETA-Cl has been used for the elimination of bacteria in medical wastewater. This study provides new ideas for the recycling and reuse of plastic waste.