Water decontamination using a Plasma-in-liquid technique: application to PFAS treatment

Water decontamination using a Plasma-in-liquid technique: application to PFAS treatment (WPIE-PFAS)

The production, application, and disposal of PFAS – anthropogenic chemicals widely used in consumer and industrial products – continue to cause grave environmental and health issues around the world. The mitigatory efforts made by the United States and the European Union over the past decade have been largely unsuccessful, and there still exists a pressing need for real-time detection of these PFAS chemicals for better water risk management. As such, this project will develop and implement an efficient and environmentally friendly technique for PFAS removal –based on plasma-liquid interactions (PLI) – and the demonstration of a field-effect transistor sensing platform that can in-situ monitor various PFAS species during the oxidation process. In doing so, the project will open a novel avenue for a more efficient and affordable PFAS detection, as well as introduce new perspectives for clean processes such as the PLI technique.

Supporting mechanism: UChicago-CNRS PhD Joint Programme

Active dates: July 1, 2023-June 30, 2025