Zhi-Wei Lin and Subeen Kim recently published a paper in JACS reporting the design of hierarchically porous monolithic adsorbents to capture PFAS from water under a continuous flow setup. The unique macroporous structure of the StyDex monolith enables rapid transport of water and PFAS molecules to meso- and micro-pores, leading to superior PFAS removal efficiency per unit mass compared to commercial benchmarks. The monolith can be synthesized in-house and regenerated through a simple solvent wash. This research will contribute to reducing the generation of sorbent waste and offering a more sustainable approach to water purification. This work was a collaboration with Prof. Gordon Getzinger’s Group at Loyola University Chicago, whose expertise in PFAS detection and analysis was essential to the study. A talented undergraduate student, Yaryna Dyakiv, and second-year PhD student Eden Gedangoni contributed to this research. Eden will continue developing the StyDex monolith for real water matrices and low backpressure applications during her PhD research.
