A membrane that doesn't just catch 'forever chemicals' — it destroys them

Filters can trap PFAS, the 'forever chemicals' contaminating water worldwide, but trapping just concentrates the problem. An international team from Arizona State, Rice, Tongji, the National University of Singapore and Nanjing universities has built a palladium-coated catalytic membrane that captures six regulated PFAS compounds and breaks their carbon-fluorine bonds — among the strongest in chemistry. In laboratory tests published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, it removed over 90% of each targeted compound across 58 days of continuous use, and destroyed about 83% of the fluorine outright rather than storing it.

SDG 6 · Clean water and sanitation — Mechanism: tech innovation