Our Research Nanoscale materials for removal of “forever chemicals”
Architected materials to be developed as filters. Credit – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28696-9
PFAS are found in most water supplies. Credit – https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink
Architected materials to be developed as filters. Credit – https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28696-9
PFAS are found in most water supplies. Credit – https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-much-water-should-you-drink
Principal Investigators
Challenge:
Can we create a water treatment technology to remove "forever chemicals" such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that pose a significant risk to human health?
Research Strategy
- Develop novel architected materials as filters for PFAS removal
- Establish the ability of these materials to remove PFAS and optimize the material structure for removal
- Scale materials and validate removal at the pilot scale
Project description
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as "forever chemicals," are ubiquitous in water supplies due to human activity and are known to cause significant health issues. However, these chemicals remain challenging to remove using conventional water purification technologies. Thus, alternative materials for water filtration are needed to ensure that we do not ingest these chemicals through contaminated drinking water. The research team will develop novel architected materials as porous filters for PFAS removal. Architected materials are a class of materials whose construction is manipulated at the nanoscale to show new and/or customized behaviors through the interplay between material properties and geometry. A 3D printing method will be used to create optimized geometries for filtration of these materials.
Outcomes
- Effectively detected individual PFAS compounds from a multi-compound mix
- Used carbon electrodes generated with 3D-printed architected materials to demonstrate electrochemically-generated, radical-based PFAS degradation
- Demonstrated complete mineralization of PFOA (a type of PFAS) into benign products
- Extended detection and degradation beyond PFOA to PFOS, an additional small-molecule PFAS which is generally harder to degrade and monitor
Additional Details
Impact Areas
- Water
Research Themes
- Water Purification & Desalination
Year Funded
- 2023
Grant Type
- Seed Grant
Status
- Completed