Rapid and Efficient Removal of Perfluorooctanoic Acid from Water with Fluorine-Rich Calixarene-Based Porous Polymers

Dinesh Shetty; Ilma Jahović; Tina Skorjanc; Turan Selman Erkal; Liaqat Ali; Jesus Raya; Zouhair Asfari; Mark A Olson; Serdal Kirmizialtin; A Ozgur Yazaydin; Ali Trabolsi

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c13400

Rapid and Efficient Removal of Perfluorooctanoic Acid from Water with Fluorine-Rich Calixarene-Based Porous Polymers

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Sep 23;12(38):43160-43166. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c13400. Epub 2020 Sep 10.

Authors

Dinesh Shetty^{1

2

3}, Ilma Jahović¹, Tina Skorjanc¹, Turan Selman Erkal⁴, Liaqat Ali⁵, Jesus Raya⁶, Zouhair Asfari⁷, Mark A Olson^{8

9}, Serdal Kirmizialtin¹, A Ozgur Yazaydin⁴, Ali Trabolsi¹

Affiliations

¹ Science Division, New York University Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
² Department of Chemistry, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box: 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
³ Center for Catalysis and Separations, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, U.K.
⁵ Core Technology Platform, New York University Abu Dhabi, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
⁶ Membrane Biophysics and NMR, Institute of Chemistry, University of Strasbourg, CNRS, UMR 7177 Strasbourg, France.
⁷ Laboratoire de Chimie Analytique et Sciences Séparatives, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 67087 Strasbourg Cedex, France.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States.
⁹ Institute for Molecular Design and Synthesis, School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, PR China.

PMID: 32851843
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c13400

Abstract

On account of its nonbiodegradable nature and persistence in the environment, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) accumulates in water resources and poses serious environmental issues in many parts of the world. Here, we present the development of two fluorine-rich calix[4]arene-based porous polymers, FCX4-P and FCX4-BP, and demonstrate their utility for the efficient removal of PFOA from water. These materials featured Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of up to 450 m² g^-1, which is slightly lower than their nonfluorinated counterparts (up to 596 m² g^-1). FCX4-P removes PFOA at environmentally relevant concentrations with a high rate constant of 3.80 g mg^-1 h^-1 and reached an exceptional maximum PFOA uptake capacity of 188.7 mg g^-1. In addition, it could be regenerated by simple methanol wash and reused without a significant decrease in performance.

Keywords: Sonogashira−Hagihara coupling; calixarene; perfluorooctanoic acid; porous polymers; water purification.