Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

New sorbents for removing forever chemicals need standardized reporting

Nature Reviews Materials volume 10, pages 327–329 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or ‘forever chemicals’, are persistent global pollutants that require efficient sorbents for removal. We propose a minimum data standard that should be reported for any new PFAS sorbent, aiming to enhance reproducibility, facilitate quantitative sorbent comparisons and accelerate PFAS removal technologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Lim, X. Could the world go PFAS-free? Proposal to ban ‘forever chemicals’ fuels debate. Nature 620, 24–27 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Evich, M. G. et al. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the environment. Science 375, eabg9065 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang, C. et al. Biological utility of fluorinated compounds: from materials design to molecular imaging, therapeutics and environmental remediation. Chem. Rev. 122, 167–208 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Tan, X. et al. Efficient removal of perfluorinated chemicals from contaminated water sources using magnetic fluorinated polymer sorbents. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 61, e202213071 (2022).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Ackerman Grunfeld, D. et al. Underestimated burden of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in global surface waters and groundwaters. Nat. Geosci. 17, 340–346 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Tokranov, A. K. et al. Predictions of groundwater PFAS occurrence at drinking water supply depths in the United States. Science 386, 748–755 (2024).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Lang, J. R., Allred, B. M., Field, J. A., Levis, J. W. & Barlaz, M. A. National estimate of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) release to U.S. municipal landfill leachate. Environ. Sci. Technol. 51, 2197–2205 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Yang, Z. et al. Fluoropolymer sorbent for efficient and selective capturing of per- and polyfluorinated compounds. Nat. Commun. 15, 8269 (2024).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Crittenden, J. C., Trussell, R. R., Hand, D. W., Howe, K. J. & Tchobanoglous, G. MWH’s Water Treatment: Principles and Design 3rd edn (John Wiley & Sons, 2012).

  10. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Evaluation of Current Alternatives and Estimated Cost Curves for PFAS Removal and Destruction from Municipal Wastewater, Biosolids, Landfill Leachate, and Compost Contact Water 26–48 (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 2023).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the Australian Research Council (LP220100036) for supporting this work. C.Z. acknowledges the Australian Research Council for his Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellowship (DE230101105).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Zicheng Su, Zhuojing Yang, Kehan Liu, Chunrong Yu & Cheng Zhang

  2. Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Zicheng Su, Zhuojing Yang, Kehan Liu & Chunrong Yu

  3. Australian Centre for Water and Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Jianhua Guo

Authors
  1. Zicheng Su
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhuojing Yang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kehan Liu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chunrong Yu
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jianhua Guo
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Cheng Zhang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cheng Zhang.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Su, Z., Yang, Z., Liu, K. et al. New sorbents for removing forever chemicals need standardized reporting. Nat Rev Mater 10, 327–329 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00795-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41578-025-00795-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing