Copolymer helps remove pervasive PFAS toxins from environment

Date:
October 29, 2020
Source:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau
Summary:
Researchers have demonstrated that they can attract, capture and
destroy PFAS - a group of federally regulated substances found
in everything from nonstick coatings to shampoo and nicknamed
'the forever chemicals' due to their persistence in the natural
environment.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers have demonstrated that they can attract, capture and destroy
PFAS - - a group of federally regulated substances found in everything
from nonstick coatings to shampoo and nicknamed "the forever chemicals"
due to their persistence in the natural environment.


========================================================================== Using a tunable copolymer electrode, engineers from the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign captured and destroyed perfluoroalkyl
and polyfluoroalkyl substances present in water using electrochemical reactions. The proof-of- concept study is the first to show that
copolymers can drive electrochemical environmental applications, the researchers said.

The results of the study are published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

"Exposure to PFAS has gained intense attention recently due to
their widespread occurrence in natural bodies of water, contaminated
soil and drinking water," said Xiao Su, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering who led the study in collaboration with civil
and environmental engineering professors Yujie Men and Roland Cusick.

PFAS are typically present in low concentrations, and devices or methods designed to remove them must be highly selective toward them over
other compounds found in natural waters, the researchers said. PFAS
are electrically charged, held together by highly stable bonds, and
are water-resistant, making them difficult to destroy using traditional waste-disposal methods.

"We have found a way to tune a copolymer electrode to attract and adsorb
-- or capture -- PFAS from water," Su said. "The process not only removes
these dangerous contaminants, but also destroys them simultaneously
using electrochemical reactions at the opposite electrode, making the
overall system highly energy-efficient." To evaluate the method, the
team used various water samples that included municipal wastewater,
all spiked with either a low or moderate concentration of PFAS.

"Within three hours of starting the electrochemical adsorption process
in the lab, we saw a 93% reduction of PFAS concentration in the low concentration spiked samples and an 82.5% reduction with a moderate concentration spiked samples, which shows the system can be efficient
for different contamination contexts -- such as in drinking water or
even chemical spills," Su said.

Based on concepts first proposed in Su's previous work with arsenic
removal, the process combines the separation and reaction steps in one
device. "This is an example of what we call processes intensification,
which we believe is an important approach for addressing environmental
concerns related to energy and water," Su said.

The team plans to continue to work with various emerging contaminants, including endocrine disruptors. "We are also very interested in seeing
how these basic copolymer concepts might work outside of environmental
systems and help perform challenging chemical separations, such as drug purification in the pharmaceutical industry," Su said.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana-Champaign,_News_Bureau.

Original written by Lois Yoksoulian. Note: Content may be edited for
style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kwiyong Kim, Paola Baldaguez Medina, Johannes Elbert, Emmanuel
Kayiwa,
Roland D. Cusick, Yujie Men, Xiao Su. Molecular Tuning of
Redox‐Copolymers for Selective Electrochemical Remediation.

Advanced Functional Materials, 2020; 2004635 DOI:
10.1002/adfm.202004635 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201029115816.htm

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