ERI: Underlying Interfacial Phenomena in PFAS- Polymer Sorbent Adsorption

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。近年来，全氟烷基和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）的家庭和工业市场急剧扩大，尽管这些“永久化学品”具有环境持久性。PFAS存在于地下、地表和饮用沃茨水中，高浓度时会对健康产生严重影响，例如肝脏和甲状腺疾病以及癌症。因此，水净化工作的重点是减轻有害PFAS对环境和健康的影响，必须加以考虑。目前的PFAS去除技术依赖于吸附剂材料（例如，活性炭和离子交换树脂），因为它们具有合理的去除率和低成本。然而，这些常见的吸附剂遭受差的选择性，低亲和力，和缓慢的吸附动力学时，面对PFAS在环境相关的浓度，吸附剂再生过程是能源密集型的。迫切需要表现出选择性和快速去除PFAS并具有廉价再生的高级吸附剂材料。这个项目研究了使用氟化大分子与可调功能，孔隙率，和可控的疏水-疏水相互作用的先进吸附剂设计。该设计方法优先考虑制造简单性，以消除对昂贵的合成后转换和复杂仪器的需求。调查将侧重于了解复杂的界面现象，控制使用聚合物吸附剂材料从饮用水中分离PFAS。该项目还作为一个教育平台，用于开发研究生课程材料，并让本科生和K-12学生参与STEM研究。 该项目的目标是使用新型氟化嵌段共聚物开发低成本、大规模吸附剂生产策略。候选聚合物利用其在固液界面的自组装，以促进从饮用水中消除有毒的PFAS。多孔聚合物吸附剂将由廉价的市售单体合成，并且不需要合成后转化来实现其期望的功能。吸附剂的设计灵感来自于潜在的界面现象，其中小分子吸附和平衡的疏水/亲水相互作用可以同时控制。为此，该项目旨在对多孔聚合物吸附剂的工作原理有一个基本的了解。该方法将检查（i）吸附剂功能与短链PFAS和水分子的亲水性相互作用，（ii）固液界面处的平衡疏水性碳-氟-氟-碳相互作用，其中聚合物吸附剂是“固体”，溶解在水中的长链PFAS被认为是“液体”相，以及（iii）调节化学驱动的自组装现象。PFAS消除性能将用“对照”和从新泽西各个地区收集的饮用水样品进行测试。该项目还将为废吸附剂的绿色溶剂回收和再利用确立一种可持续的方法。为了将科学发现传达给更广泛的受众，研究人员将在州立大学蒙特克莱尔成立一个本科K-12研究小组。该小组将参与（i）从附近工业区收集饮用水样本进行吸附剂测试的实地工作，以及（ii）在技术知识有限的社区中开展互动式“视觉颜色代码吸附剂演示”的教育推广活动。从这项研究中获得的见解也将被整合到研究生课程中，以提高学生对聚合物和界面科学与工程领域的兴趣。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Household and industrial markets for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have dramatically expanded in recent years despite the environmental persistence of these 'forever chemicals'. PFAS are found in ground, surface, and drinking waters and, in high concentrations, have been associated with serious health effects such as liver and thyroid disease and cancer. Thus, water decontamination efforts focused on mitigating the environmental and health impacts of hazardous PFAS must be considered. Current PFAS removal techniques rely on sorbent materials (e.g., activated carbon and ion exchange resins) for their reasonable removal rates and low costs. Yet, these common sorbents suffer from poor selectivity, low affinity, and slow adsorption kinetics when faced with PFAS at environmentally-relevant concentrations, and the sorbent regeneration processes are energy-intensive. Advanced sorbent materials that exhibit selective and rapid removal of PFAS with inexpensive regeneration are urgently needed. This project examines the use of fluorinated macromolecules with tunable functionalities, porosities, and controllable hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions for advanced sorbent design. The design approach prioritizes manufacturing simplicity to eliminate the need for costly post-synthetic transformations and complex instrumentation. The investigation will focus on understanding the complex interfacial phenomena governing the separation of PFAS from drinking water using the polymer sorbent material. This project also serves as an educational platform for developing graduate-level course materials and engaging undergraduate and K-12 students in STEM research. The goal of this project is to develop a low-cost, mass-scale sorbent production strategy using a novel fluorinated block copolymer. The polymer candidate leverages its self-assembly at solid-liquid interfaces to facilitate the elimination of toxic PFAS from drinking water. The porous polymer sorbent will be synthesized from inexpensive, commercially-available monomers and does not require post-synthetic transformation to achieve its desired functionality. The sorbent design is inspired by the underlying interfacial phenomena, where small-molecule adsorption and balanced hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions can be controlled concurrently. To that end, the project aims to develop a fundamental understanding of the working principles of the porous polymer sorbent. The approach will examine the interplay of (i) hydrophilic interactions of sorbent functionality to the short-chain PFAS and water molecules, (ii) balanced hydrophobic carbon-fluorine—fluorine-carbon interactions at solid-liquid interfaces, where the polymer sorbent is “solid” and long-chain PFAS dissolved in water is considered a “liquid” phase, and (iii) tuning thermodynamically-driven self-assembly phenomena. PFAS elimination performance will be tested with “control” and drinking water samples collected from various areas of New Jersey. This project will also establish a sustainable approach for green solvent-based recycling and reuse of spent sorbents. To convey the scientific findings to a broader audience, the investigator will form an Undergraduate & K-12 Research Team at Montclair State University. This team will participate in (i) fieldwork to collect drinking water samples from nearby industrial zones for sorbent testing and (ii) educational outreach by presenting an interactive “Visual Color Code Sorbent Demonstration” among communities having limited technical knowledge. Insights gained from this research will also be integrated into a graduate course to increase students' interests in the fields of polymers and interfacial science and engineering.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.