This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: They can turn up in a nonstick frying pan, a waterproof jacket, a takeout food wrapper or the foam used to fight fires. Known as "forever chemicals," these substances are ubiquitous in modern society, prized for their extreme durability and versatility.
However, their charm comes with a curse: They are so durable they resist degradation, posing threats to human health and the environment. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, gained early widespread use in products such as Teflon, a coating that resists oil, heat, stains, grease and water. Today, they are everywhere, from paints and adhesives to furniture, carpets, cosmetics, semiconductors and waterproof fabrics.
Unfortunately, they are also in our water, soil, food and even us. Now, researchers at Arizona State University and their international colleagues are attacking the problem in a new way. Rather than filtering these harmful chemicals out of contaminated water, they have developed a technique to destroy them.
Most conventional PFAS treatments separate the chemicals from water. Activated carbon, ion exchange and membrane filtration can capture PFAS, but the contaminants remain in spent filters, brines or concentrated waste that must still be handled or disposed of. The new approach is designed to go a step further by breaking the chemicals apart rather than simply moving them somewhere else.
"PFAS are hard to break down, and normal processes that we use don't work," said Bruce Rittmann, director of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, who led the study. He is joined by collaborators from Rice University, Texas; Tongji University, China; National University of Singapore; and Nanjing University, China. The research appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
PFAS owe their notorious persistence to the carbon-fluorine bond. In many of these compounds, a chain of carbon atoms is almost completely surrounded by fluorine atoms, creating an exceptionally tough chemical structure. "It's called the strongest bond in organic chemistry," Rittmann said.
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