) that stabilizes photogenerated electrons in a long-lived reducing state. Concurrently, the hydrophobic polymer backbone enriches PFOA, activating C-F bonds and facilitating efficient interfacial electron transfer. The cooperation between conformationally regulated charge separation and interfacial substrate enrichment enables complete PFOA defluorination under mild conditions, establishing a sustainable route for degrading ultrastable PFAS and providing a molecular design principle for developing reducing polymer photocatalysts.
Hu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.