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• Cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment of biodegradable bioplastics is presented. • Two biodegradable plastics are considered: polylactic acid and polyhydroxybutyrate. • End-of-life scenarios are considered to explore sustainability impacts. • Both biodegradable plastics has a positive environmental impact from gate-to-grave. Biodegradable plastics have emerged as promising and sustainable solutions for addressing the environmental challenges caused by plastic wastes. In this study, we present a comprehensive cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) of two prominent biodegradable plastics, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polylactic acid (PLA), to quantitatively evaluate their environmental impact. In cradle-to-gate analysis, production processes of biodegradable plastics from their respective raw materials were analyzed. The global warming potentials (GWPs) for 1 kg of PHB and PLA plastics were 3.09 CO 2 equivalent (kg CO 2 eq.) and 5.79 kg CO 2 eq., respectively, which were higher than those of fossil-based plastics. However, gate-to-grave LCA demonstrated that the superior end-of-life (EOL) options for biodegradable plastics, such as anaerobic digestion and incineration, result in an overall reduction in GWP under well-controlled waste management scenarios. These findings underscore the importance of developing technology and infrastructure for the effective treatment of biodegradable plastic waste, in addition to expanding its market share. Furthermore, the comprehensive cradle-to-grave LCA provides valuable guidance for policymakers to incentivize emission reductions throughout the entire product life cycle, rather than focusing on localized scopes. We believe that the insights from this study will encourage extensive discussions on both technical and regulatory aspects, facilitating efforts towards a more sustainable plastic economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the green fabrication of mesoporous NiO-based flexible advanced electrodes for stable supercapacitors via room-temperature, environmentally friendly, ultrafast millisecond flashlight sintering (FLS) irradiation. The porous FLS-NiO electrode outperformed the time- and energy-consuming conventional thermally annealed NiO electrode, exhibiting an exceptional specific capacity of 202.3 mA h g−1 (1215 F g−1) at 2 A g−1 and excellent cycle life (capacitance retention of 96.5% after 15,000 galvanostatic charge–discharge cycles). [Display omitted] • Ultrafast millisecond flashlight sintered (FLS) mesoporous NiO for supercapacitors. • Green FLS-NiO outperformed the conventional thermally annealed NiO electrodes. • FLS-NiO exhibited an exceptional specific capacity of 202.3 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1. • FLS-NiO@ i 12J//rGO ASCs deliver ultralong capacitance retention of 98%. • FLS-NiO shows outstanding mechanical stability and flexibility under bending. Ultrafast flashlight sintering (FLS) has become an important green manufacturing technology for the structural reformation of various nanomaterials. Nickel oxide (NiO) has been extensively studied as a promising electrode material for electrochemical energy storage owing to its high theoretical specific capacitance, low cost, and appropriate chemical compatibility. This study reports the fabrication of mesoporous ultrathin NiO nanosheets on carbon cloth (CC) as green electrodes for flexible supercapacitors (SCs) through an exceptional ultrafast millisecond FLS process at room temperature. The optimized FLS-NiO@ i 12J electrode exhibited a remarkable specific capacity of 202.3 mA h g−1 (1215 F g−1) at a current density of 2 A g−1. Strikingly, the as-fabricated FLS-NiO electrodes outperformed the time and energy-consuming conventional thermally annealed (CTA) NiO electrodes. Furthermore, the flexible FLS-NiO@ i 12J//rGO asymmetric SCs deliver a remarkable energy density of 47.18 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 758.37 W Kg−1 and extraordinary cycling stability performance after 15,000 cycles. In addition, the FLS-NiO@ i 12J electrodes offer unique mesoporous structures, high surface areas, and numerous open-pore channels of ultrathin NiO nanosheets that facilitate fast transport of ions and rapid redox reactions. Thus, the present approach is promising for designing advanced electrode materials for flexible energy storage applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]