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Chemistry

Quantum dots help destroy ‘forever chemicals’ with light

Shining light through nanocrystals helps break down PFAS without the need for extreme heat or pressure

By James Dinneen

1 August 2024

The carbon-fluorine bonds in “forever chemicals” make them hard to destroy

Yurchanka Siarhei/Shutterstock

Some “forever chemicals” – so named because of how difficult they are to break down – can be destroyed using light shining through quantum dots. This method could require less energy than other techniques to destroy the contaminants.

“The major advantage of our approach is that it enables degradation using simple and versatile visible-light LEDs,” says at Ritsumeikan University in Japan.

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