Porous Polymer Networks For Per- And Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substance Separations

Patent Status

Brief Description

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as "forever chemicals," are pervasive environmental contaminants that are notoriously difficult to remove from water due to their strong carbon-fluorine bonds and low concentrations. Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a platform of functionalized Porous Polymer Networks (PPNs), such as PPN-6 (also known as PAF-1), specifically engineered for the selective capture and separation of these substances. By post-synthetically modifying the polymer framework with diverse chemical moieties—including fluorinated alkylammonium groups—the team created a library of adsorbents that leverage a synergistic combination of electrostatic, hydrogen-bonding, and fluorophilic interactions. These materials act like molecular "sponges" that can rapidly and selectively bind both short-chain and long-chain PFAS from complex water matrices, achieving near-complete removal in less than 30 seconds.

Suggested uses

• Industrial PFAS Remediation: Large-scale capture of "forever chemicals" from municipal water supplies and industrial wastewater.

• Semiconductor Manufacturing: Ultra-purification of process water to prevent PFAS interference in microchip fabrication.

• Point-of-Use Filtration: Integration into high-performance consumer water filters for households in high-risk contamination zones.

• Environmental Site Monitoring: Use as a stable sampling medium for detecting trace levels of fluorinated organic compounds in groundwater.

• Chemical Separations: Tailoring the polymer's pore environment for the selective recovery of high-value fluorinated molecules in pharmaceutical synthesis.

Advantages

• Rapid Kinetics: Reaches adsorption equilibrium in under 30 seconds, significantly faster than commercial granular activated carbon (GAC).

• High Capacity and Selectivity: Exhibits capacities up to 4.0 mmol/g, outperforming traditional adsorbents even in the presence of competing ions and organic matter.

• Dual-Targeting Mechanism: Simultaneously captures difficult-to-remove short-chain PFAS (via electrostatic/H-bonding) and long-chain PFAS (via hydrophobic/fluorophilic interactions).

• Regenerable and Reusable: PFAS can be desorbed from the network, allowing the PPN to be recycled for multiple cycles with minimal loss in performance.

• Tunable Framework: The pore environment can be chemically customized to target specific emerging contaminants or varying water chemistries.

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