Scientists are looking for cost-efficient ways to remove forever chemicals like PFOA from drinking water. (Photo by StudyFinds using Shutterstock AI Image Generator)
University of Utah researchers unveil a dual-function material that strips the forever chemical from water and lights up when contamination is present.
In A Nutshell
- A new material removes over 99% of PFOA, a toxic “forever chemical,” from water in just 5 minutes.
- It works through a porous metal-organic framework that traps PFOA molecules using electrostatic attraction.
- The same material doubles as a detection system, fluorescing when PFOA is present.
- It remains reusable and effective over multiple cycles, showing promise for real-world water treatment.
SALT LAKE CITY — A new porous material can strip dangerous PFOA — one of the most well-known “forever chemicals” — from contaminated water with stunning speed and efficiency, offering hope for cleaning up one of the most persistent environmental threats of our time.
Researchers at the University of Utah have created a metal-organic framework (MOF) that removes over 99% of PFOA from water in just five minutes. The discovery could change how communities tackle water contamination from these virtually indestructible compounds that pose serious health risks.
The material works like a high-efficiency adsorbent that captures chemicals and detects their presence through a built-in fluorescence system. Even better, it can be reused repeatedly with minimal performance loss.
Forever chemicals, scientifically known as PFAS, have earned their ominous nickname because they never break down naturally in the environment or human body. PFOA, one of the most studied and concerning types, has been widely used in industrial and consumer products. These chemicals have now contaminated water supplies worldwide.
How the Material Removes PFOA From Water in Just 5 Minutes
Current methods for removing PFAS from water are often slow, expensive, or inefficient. Activated carbon, the most common treatment, can take hours and struggles with certain types of forever chemicals. Ion exchange resins work better in some cases but have limitations in reusability and selectivity.
The Utah team’s solution, published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C, centers on what’s called a metal-organic framework, or MOF — essentially a crystalline material with a cage-like structure full of tiny pores. The researchers modified their MOF by adding positively charged groups that act like magnets for negatively charged PFOA molecules.
Scientists tested their creation on water contaminated with varying levels of PFOA. At high concentrations of 1,000 parts per million, the MOF could absorb 1,178 milligrams of PFOA per gram of material, which far exceeds the capacity of many existing treatments. At more realistic contamination levels of 50 parts per billion, the material achieved over 99% removal within five minutes.
That speed is remarkable. Conventional treatments might take hours to clean the water. Researchers also tested the material’s durability by running it through five cycles of contamination and cleaning, and it retained over 93% of its original adsorption capacity.
Lead researcher Ling Zang, left, and Rana Dalapati, seated, modified another chemical-capturing molecule to increase its binding ability. (Credit: University of Utah College of Engineering)
Revolutionary Dual-Function Technology
Beyond removal, the same material doubles as a detection system, changing from non-fluorescent to brightly fluorescent when PFOA is present. This dual-purpose function could allow water treatment facilities to simultaneously monitor and remove contamination in real-time.
The detection system works through what scientists call an “indicator displacement assay.” The MOF is initially loaded with a fluorescent dye that remains non-emissive when confined inside the framework. When PFOA molecules enter the water, they displace the dye molecules, which are released into the solution and begin to fluoresce — serving as a chemical signal that contamination is present.
During testing, researchers found their material was highly selective for PFOA, showing a 14-fold greater response to it compared to PFOS, another major forever chemical. The material also maintained its effectiveness even in the presence of common salts found in real water supplies, suggesting it could perform well in a variety of environmental conditions.
Additional chemical analysis supported this detection mechanism. When the MOF absorbed PFOA, fluorine levels within the material increased while iodine levels decreased, indicating a successful ion-exchange process where PFOA replaced iodide anions originally present in the framework.
What This Breakthrough Means for PFAS Cleanup and Water Safety
“To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first example of a MOF-based platform that integrates high-capacity PFOA adsorption with IDA-based fluorescence sensing,” the researchers wrote in their study.
Traditional approaches typically require separate systems for detection and removal, adding complexity and cost. A single material that handles both tasks could dramatically streamline water treatment operations.
The study focused primarily on PFOA in controlled lab conditions. While the material performed well in salt-rich water, its effectiveness against mixtures of other PFAS compounds remains to be evaluated in future work.
The research was funded by Gentex Corporation. Lead researcher Ling Zang disclosed having “a significant financial interest” in the company.
Looking ahead, the team believes this approach could be adapted to target other PFAS beyond PFOA, potentially leading to a family of custom-designed MOFs for tackling different contaminants. The modular nature of MOF chemistry allows scientists to tweak the structure and functionality to suit specific targets.
Communities worldwide are grappling with PFAS contamination, and solutions that combine speed, selectivity, and practical utility represent important progress in the fight to make clean water more accessible.
The researchers created their material by modifying an existing metal-organic framework called UiO-66-NH2 using a chemical process that added positively charged ammonium groups. They tested the material’s ability to remove PFOA from water at two concentration levels: high concentrations (1,000 parts per million) and environmentally relevant low concentrations (50 parts per billion). The team used specialized analytical techniques including 19F NMR spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to measure PFOA levels before and after treatment. For the detection capability, they loaded the material with a fluorescent dye called sulforhodamine B and measured how it responded to different chemicals.
The modified MOF demonstrated exceptional performance, achieving a maximum adsorption capacity of 1,178 mg of PFOA per gram of material according to standard modeling. At realistic contamination levels of 50 ppb, the material removed over 99% of PFOA within just 5 minutes using only 20 mg of material per liter of water. The material maintained over 93% of its effectiveness after five reuse cycles and worked well even in the presence of common salts. The fluorescence detection system showed high selectivity for PFOA over other chemicals, with a detection limit of 0.22 μM and a 21-fold increase in fluorescence signal.
The study focused primarily on PFOA in controlled laboratory conditions and didn’t test performance with complex mixtures of different PFAS compounds commonly found in real contaminated water. The researchers used relatively small sample sizes and didn’t evaluate long-term stability under various environmental conditions. The material’s performance with other types of forever chemicals beyond PFOA requires further investigation, and scaling up for industrial water treatment applications hasn’t been demonstrated.
Funding and Disclosures
The research was sponsored by Gentex Corporation under award #10072348, with additional support from the University of Utah for facilities and equipment. Lead researcher Ling Zang disclosed having “a significant financial interest in Gentex Corporation, which funded this research.” The authors stated that all data supporting their findings are available within the published article and its supplementary information.
The study “Dual-functional metal–organic framework for efficient removal and fluorescent detection of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) from water,” was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C on July 15, 2025. The research was conducted by Rana Dalapati, Jiangfan Shi, Matthew Hunter, and Ling Zang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Utah. The paper was received on May 1, 2025, and accepted on July 15, 2025, with DOI: 10.1039/d5tc01765c.
