We present a simple and efficient method for preconcentrating per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in water. Our method was inspired by the sea-spray aerosol enrichment in nature. Gas bubbles in the ocean serve to scavenge surface active material, carrying it to the air-ocean interface, where the bubbles burst and form a sea-spray aerosol. These aerosol particles are enriched in surface-active organic compounds such as free fatty acids and anionic surfactants. In our method, we in situ generate H₂ microbubbles by electrochemical water reduction using a porous Ni foam electrode. These H₂ bubbles pick up PFAS as they rise through the water column that contains low concentration PFAS. When these bubbles reach the water surface, they burst and produce aerosol droplets that are enriched in PFAS. Using this method, we demonstrated ∼1000-fold preconcentration for ten common PFAS in the concentration range from 1 pM to 1 nM (or ∼0.5 ng/L to 500 ng/L) in 10 min. We also developed a diffusion-limited adsorption model that is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data. In addition, we demonstrated using this method to preconcentrate PFAS in tap water, indicating its potential use for quantitative analysis of PFAS in real-world water samples.

中文翻译：

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通过电化学气溶胶形成，在10分钟内对全氟化和多氟化烷基物质进行1000倍预浓缩

我们提出了一种简单有效的方法来预浓缩水中的全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）。我们的方法受到自然界中海喷雾气溶胶富集的启发。海洋中的气泡起到清除表面活性物质的作用，将其运送到海洋界面，气泡在其中破裂并形成海喷雾气溶胶。这些气溶胶颗粒富含表面活性有机化合物，例如游离脂肪酸和阴离子表面活性剂。在我们的方法中，我们使用多孔镍泡沫电极通过电化学减水法原位产生H ₂微气泡。这些H ₂当气泡通过包含低浓度PFAS的水柱上升时，气泡会吸收PFAS。当这些气泡到达水面时，它们破裂并产生富含PFAS的气溶胶滴。使用这种方法，我们证明了在10分钟内，从1 pM到1 nM（或从0.5 ng / L到500 ng / L）的十种常见PFAS的〜1000倍预浓缩。我们还开发了与实验数据定量吻合的扩散受限吸附模型。此外，我们证明了使用此方法对自来水中的PFAS进行预浓缩，表明其可用于现实世界水样中PFAS的定量分析。