Imagine turning toxic "forever chemicals" in your tap water into harmless fluoride using just sunlight.
A team at the University of Adelaide has developed a sunlight-activated material that tackles PFAS—synthetic compounds found in cookware, firefighting foams and water-repellent fabrics—that stubbornly resist breakdown and accumulate in ecosystems and bodies worldwide.
Dubbed a low-energy game-changer, the material uses solar energy to trigger a reaction that breaks PFAS down into fluoride, a benign mineral with well-understood benefits for dental health. This approach sidesteps energy-intensive treatments and offers a greener path to safer water.
The need is urgent: over 85 percent of Australians carry PFAS in their blood, and new drinking water guidelines have slashed safe PFAS limits to mere nanograms per liter. Traditional cleanup methods struggle to hit these microscopic thresholds.
"PFAS contamination continues to pose a global health risk, and this research represents a critical step toward safer communities and cleaner ecosystems," says lead researcher Cameron Shearer. The team hopes their breakthrough can be adapted to treat contaminated sites around the world.
Next steps include scaling the material for field trials and exploring how this solar-driven process can be integrated into water treatment plants and remote clean-up operations. For young innovators and activists eyeing sustainable solutions, this study shines a light—quite literally—on a promising route to cleaner water.
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Researchers use sunlight to turn 'forever chemicals' into fluoride
cgtn.com
