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MINI REVIEW article
Front. Chem. Eng.
Sec. Surface and Interface Engineering
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fceng.2025.1565754
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Antimicrobial Polymers and SurfacesView all articles
Advancements in Antibiofouling Hydrogel Based Approaches for Short-Chain Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Removal in Drinking Water Treatment
Provisionally accepted
Kyana K-A. Donovan1
Genesis T. Fermin1
Iliana Vigil2Sundus Shaker1Richerly A. Paulino1Robin Difo1
Yuemei Ye1*- 1Lehman College, Bronx, United States
- 2The Graduate Center,The City University of New York, New York City, New York, United States
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Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging contaminants with increasing health concern due to their persistence, widespread presence, and adverse health effects. Short-chain PFAS, in particular, are more challenging to remove using conventional water treatment technologies. Hydrogel adsorbents have shown as a promising solution for short-chain PFAS removal, offering high adsorption capacity, rapid kinetics, and tunable material properties.However, biofouling contamination which is easier to happen on wet hydrogels adsorbents compared with conventional adsorbents in water treatment process, could significantly reduce adsorption efficiency, shorten operational lifespan, and increase overall costs. Antibiofouling modifications present a viable strategy to enhance hydrogel functionality in drinking water treatment applications. This review summarizes recent advancements of hydrogel in antibiofouling and short-chain PFAS removal applications through functional group modifications. Furthermore, it highlights gaps in the current literature, particularly the lack of studies on the development and evaluation of hydrogels with both biofouling resistance and short-chain PFAS removal capabilities for drinking water treatment applications.
Keywords: Antibiofouling hydrogel, Drinking water treatment, short-chain PFAS remediation, long-term usage, Domestic water treatment
Received: 23 Jan 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Donovan, Fermin, Vigil, Shaker, Paulino, Difo and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuemei Ye, Lehman College, Bronx, United States
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