The excessive use of plastic, especially polystyrene (PS), has caused serious environmental pollution. The efficient utilization of plastics and the conversion of plastics into value-added carbon materials are the concerns of researchers. Herein, we propose novel “pyrolysis–deposition” method to convert one popular plastic substance, PS, into ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs). During the synthesis process, PS is pyrolyzed into small organic gases under high temperature, which is then adsorbed through capillary adsorption into the mesoporous of SBA-15 in the presence of catalyst. The obtained OMCs have high specific surface area, uniform pore size, and ordered pore structure. The OMCs exhibit specific capacitance of 118 F/g at a current density of 0.2 A/g and electrochemical stability of 87.2% at a current density of 2 A/g after 5000 cycles. The pyrolysis–deposition strategy provides a new idea to convert waste plastics into high-performance carbon materials for electrochemical applications.

A novel luminogen-functionalized SBA-15, denoted as SNT, was developed by incorporating tris(4-bromophenyl)amine (TBPA) into SBA-15 via a “fixation-induced emission” strategy. The emission of TBPA on the matrix of SBA-15 was greatly enhanced, making the SNT possible as a fluorescence sensor. Cefalexin, a typical antibiotic, was chosen as the model analyte to be assayed and sensitive detection performance was achieved. This is the first time for cefalexin to be detected by a fluorescent method. Moreover, the SNT can be recycled by simply washing with proper solvents then used for next detection. This work provides a strategy to greatly improve the emission characteristics of fluorophores, even if a mediocre small fluorophore. It can be extended to design practical fluorescent sensors with high performance and recyclability by this strategy.