(313c) Pfas Surfactant Sequestration By Binding to Functional Polymers

Surface active per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) find niche applications because of their high chemical and thermal stability, their incompatibility with both water and hydrocarbons, and their unique ability to render surfaces non-stick. However, several widely used PFAS surfactants have been found extremely resistant to degradation, accumulate in the environment, and have long half-lives in humans, consequently causing great concern [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.128137]. In the context of developing materials and processes for sequestering PFAS surfactants from aqueous media, we research how such surfactants associate with (bind to) polymers and surfaces. To this end, we utilize complementary experiments (small-angle neutron scattering, SANS, with contrast variation) and modeling (molecular dynamics, MD), and present here examples on how the notorious PFAS surfactant perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) associates with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) homopolymer and amphiphilic block copolymers [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2021.10.176]) in aqueous solution, and with cyclodextrin-based polymer networks [https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmaterialslett.2c00168]. A detailed description emerges on how PFAS molecules organize around the different parts of the polymers, which is used to rationalize the capacity of these polymers for PFAS sequestration.