T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry
Professor of Materials Science & NanoEngineering

• Mineralization of Captured Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) at Zero Net Cost Using Flash Joule Heating
• Electrothermal Mineralization of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances for Soil Remediation
• Using PFAS to Separate Lithium from Natural Brines

Select Publications:

Cheng, Y., Deng, B., Scotland, P. et al. Electrothermal mineralization of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances for soil remediation. Nat Commun 15, 6117 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49809-6

Scotland P, Wyss K, Eddy L, Cheng Y, Beckham J, Chung Y, et al. Mineralization of Captured Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) at Zero Net Cost Using Flash Joule Heating. ChemRxiv. 2023; doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2023-6xj3m This content is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed.

George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Member NAE
Director, NEWT Center
Director, Rice WaTER Institute

• Thermal-Catalytic Destruction of PFAS in Contaminated Soils and Spent Sorbents with Unprecedentedly Mild Temperatures to Significantly Decrease Energy Requirements.

Select Publications:

Yin S, J. López, C. Sandoval, J. Calvillo, S. Glass, A. Habib, W. Lee, M. Wong, P. Alvarez, D. Villagrán (2024). Trap-n-zap: electrocatalytic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with UiO-66 modified boron nitride electrodes at environmentally relevant concentrations. Catal., B 355: 124136.

Wang B., Y. Chen, J. Samba, K. Heck, X. Huang, Ju Lee, J. Metz, M. Bhati, J. Fortner, Q. Li, P. Westerhoff, P. Alvarez, T. Senftle, M.S. Wong (2024). Surface hydrophobicity of boron nitride promotes PFOA photocatalytic degradation. Chem. Eng. 483, 149134.

Metz J., P. Zuo, B. Wang, M. S. Wong and P.J.J. Alvarez (2022). Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) Degradation by UV/Chlorine. ES&T Lett. 9: 673–679

Javed, J. Metz, T. Eraslan, J. Mathieu, B. Wang. G. Wu, A. Tsai, M.S. Wong and P. J.J. Alvarez (2020). Discerning the Relevance of Superoxide for PFOA Degradation by Advanced Oxidation Processes. ES&T Letters. 7:653-658.

Javed, C. Lyu, R. Sun, Danning Zhang L. D. Zhang, and P. J.J. Alvarez (2020). Discerning the inefficacy of hydroxyl radicals during perfluorooctanoic acid degradation. Chemosphere. 247: 125883.

Liu D., Z-M Xiu, F. Liu, G. Wu, D. Adamson, C. Newell, P. Vikesland, A-L Tsai, and P.J.J. Alvarez (20113). Perfluorooctanoic acid degradation in the presence of Fe(III) under natural sunlight J. Haz. Mat. 262: 456–463.

Chair, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Tina and Sunit Patel Professor in Molecular Nanotechnology
Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Chemistry, Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Civil Environmental Engineering

• Photocatalytic destruction of PFAS in contaminated water

Select Publications:

Sheng Yin, Juan Francisco López, Christian Sandoval-Pauker, Jonathan J. Calvillo Solís, Sarah Glass, Ahsan Habib, Wen-Yee Lee, Michael S. Wong, Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Dino Villagrán, Trap-n-zap: Electrocatalytic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with UiO-66 modified boron nitride electrodes at environmentally relevant concentrations, Applied Catalysis B: Environment and Energy, Volume 355, 2024, 124136, ISSN 0926-3373, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2024.124136.

Cheng, Y., Deng, B., Scotland, P. et al. Electrothermal mineralization of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances for soil remediation. Nat Commun 15, 6117 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49809-6

An Ultraviolet/Boron Nitride Photocatalytic Process Efficiently Degrades Poly/Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Complex Water Matrices Mojtaba Qanbarzadeh, Laura DiGiacomo, Ehsan Bouteh, Eman Z. Alhamdan, Marc M. Mason, Bo Wang, Michael S. Wong, and Ezra L. Cates Environmental Science & Technology Letters 2023 10 (8), 705-710 DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00363

Assistant Professor

• Molecular recognition of PFAS for point of use filtering membranes

Select Publications:

S Mirzaei, Castro,VME, Sánchez, RH.Nonspherical anion sequestration by C–H hydrogen bonding.Chemical Science, 2022.

Professor of Chemistry, Bioengineering, and Materials Science and NanoEngineering
Chair, Department of Chemistry
Faculty Director, RESP

• Photochemical Decomposition of PFAS by Supramolecular Assemblies

Select Publications:

Khalil S, Alazmi A, Gao G, Martínez-Jiménez C, Saxena R, Li J, et al. Continuous Synthesis and Processing of Covalent Organic Frameworks in a Flow Reactor. ChemRxiv. 2024; doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-rx784 This content is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed.

James and Deborah T. Godwin Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator

• Magnesium-Mediated Degradation of PFAS-based Polymers

Professor and Associate Chair, Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Professor, Materials Science & Nanoengineering

• Photocatalytic Degradation of PFAS using Organic COF Photocatalysts

Select Publications:

S Jiang, TP Senftle*, and R Verduzco*. Challenges in photocatalysis using covalent organic frameworks. J. Phys. Photon. 2024. In press. DOI: 10.1088/2515-7647/ad5777.

D Lee, H Wang‡, and R Verduzco*. Progress in Photocontrolled Radical Polymerization for the Synthesis of Nonlinear Polymer Architectures. J. Polym. Sci. 2024. In press. DOI: 10.1002/pol.20230889.

D Zhu, Y Chen, Y Zhu, C.-Y. Liu, Q. Yan‡, X. Wu, K. Ling, X. Zhang, P. M. Ajayan, T. P. Senftle, R. Verduzco*. Versatile Metal-Free Photocatalysts Based on 3D Covalent Organic Frameworks Capable of Reductive and Oxidative Organic Transformations and Polymerizations. Macromolecules 2024. DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.3c02490.

Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering
Chair, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering

• Fabrication of doped hBN systems for the photocatalytic degradation of PFAS

Select Publications:

Salpekar D.; Serles P.; Colas G.; Li Ma L.; Yadav S.; Hamidinejad M.; Khabashesku V.; Gao G.; Swaminathan V.; Vajtai R.; Singh C V.; Park C.; Filleter T.; Meiyazhagan A.; Ajayan P. M., "Multifunctional Applications Enabled by Fluorination of Hexagonal Boron Nitride" Small, 2311836, (2024)

Adj. Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department

• PFAS remediation in hard-to-treat waste streams
• Evaluation of the environmental impacts of PFAS replacements

Select Publications:

Ateia M.*, and Scheringer M. (2024) From “Forever Chemicals” to Fluorine-free Alternatives. Science.
Dixit F., Antell E., Faber K., Zhang C., Pannu M., Plumlee M., Buren J., Doroshow A., Pomerantz W., Arnold W., Higgins C., Peaslee G., Cohen L., Sedlak D., and Ateia M.* (2024) Closing PFAS Analytical Gaps: Inter-Method Evaluation of Total Organofluorine Techniques for AFFF-Impacted Water. Journal of Hazardous Materials Letters.

Juve J., Reece J., Wong M., Wei Z., and Ateia M.* (2023) Photocatalysts for Chemical-Free PFOA Degradation – What we know and where we go from here? Journal of Hazardous Materials.

Trang B., Li Y., Xue X., Ateia M., Houk K., Dichtel W. (2022) Low-temperature mineralization of perfluorocarboxylic acids. Science.