Research Bits: May 6

Destroying hydrogen peroxide and triazole

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney and startup Infinite Water International developed catalytic technology that breaks down hydrogen peroxide and triazole, two chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing for surface cleaning and corrosion prevention. The goal is to create a cleaner wastewater stream that can be reused within the fab.

“We use a catalytic process. We don’t filter out the contaminants but instead have an oxidation agent that breaks them down in a very targeted way,” said Long Nghiem, professor and director of the UTS Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, in a statement. “We pack this agent into a plug-and-play unit that fits into wastewater infrastructure and flushes contaminated water to clean it. We degrade the pollutants to the point where the water becomes safe for any subsequent processes for recycling or eventual disposal.”

“Typically, more than 10% of the capital expenditure of these advanced semiconductor manufacturing fabrication plants (or fabs) are for water use and water recycling, this adds up to billions of dollars,” said Matthew Ng, founder and CEO of IWI, in a statement. “Once they can remove specialist chemicals at a much lower cost, it allows them to recycle most of the water and discharge any excess wastewater safely into the environment.”

The process can remove high-concentration hydrogen peroxide in just a few minutes, and up to 90% of triazole can be degraded within an hour.

Graphene from PFAS

Researchers from Rice University found a way to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water and repurpose the waste into graphene.

The technique combines granular activated carbon (GAC) saturated with PFAS and mineralizing agents like sodium or calcium salts. The mixture is then treated with flash Joule heating, which uses a high voltage to generate temperatures exceeding 3,000 degrees Celsius in under one second. This breaks the carbon-fluorine bonds in PFAS, converting them into inert, nontoxic fluoride salts, while the GAC is converted into graphene.

“Our method doesn’t just destroy these hazardous chemicals; it turns waste into something of value,” said James Tour, professor of chemistry and professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice, in a press release. “By upcycling the spent carbon into graphene, we’ve created a process that’s not only environmentally beneficial but also economically viable, helping to offset the costs of remediation.”

The process yielded more than 96% defluorination efficiency and 99.98% removal of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a common PFAS pollutant. The researchers say it could also be tailored to produce carbon nanotubes and nanodiamonds. [1]

Fluorine recovery

Researchers from the University of Oxford and Colorado State University found a way to destroy a wide variety of fluorine-containing PFAS chemicals while also recovering their fluorine content for reuse in industrial processes.

The method works by reacting PFAS samples with potassium phosphate salts in the solid state. The reactants are ground together with ball bearings, which breaks down the PFAS chemicals and allows the researchers to extract the fluorine content from the resulting product. The team found that the recovered fluoride could be used to generate common fluorinating reagents for industrial reactions. Fluorine and fluoride gases are critical in semiconductor etch and cleaning.

“Fluoride recovery is important because our reserves of Fluorspar, essential for the manufacturing of e.g. life-saving medicines, are rapidly depleting due to extensive mining,” said Véronique Gouverneur, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Oxford, in a release. “This method not only eliminates PFAS waste but also contributes to a circular fluorine chemistry by transforming persistent pollutants into valuable fluorochemicals.” [2]

References

[1] Scotland, P., Wyss, K.M., Cheng, Y. et al. Mineralization of captured perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid at zero net cost using flash Joule heating. Nat Water 3, 486–496 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00404-z

[2] Yang, L., Chen, Z., Goult, C.A. et al. Phosphate-enabled mechanochemical PFAS destruction for fluoride reuse. Nature 640, 100–106 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08698-5