Newswise — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —When Sandia scientists Ryan Davis and Nathan Bays set out to find a better way to absorb and degrade PFAS in water sources, they kept running into the same issue: Detecting the chemicals in samples took too long.

So, they came up with their own solution.

They’ve developed a faster, cheaper way to test for PFAS.

The problem of PFAS and solving it

PFAS, or per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are commonly called forever chemicals because they don’t break down naturally in the environment. They can move through soil and water and build up in wildlife and humans.

Ryan, a chemist, has spent years developing technologies that can eliminate PFAS on both large and small scales. But that research has been time-consuming. Depending on the concentration, it can take hours to days to detect PFAS in a single sample.

“A common complaint of ours and others who are doing PFAS analysis is that it’s slow and can be costly depending on the technology,” Ryan said.

Traditional testing processes requires repetitive extraction, concentration and processing.

 It starts with a liter or more of liquid, suspected to contain PFAS. The liquid is forced through a cartridge to extract the PFAS. The collected PFAS is then added to a smaller volume of water, and the process is repeated with new cartridges until enough PFAS concentrated for detection.  

The process is not only time-consuming but also costly. Cartridges can cost several hundred dollars apiece.

That process not only slows research and development but puts testing out of reach for the average person.

“We want a technology that can be broadly accessible, not only for researchers but for the broader public and government,” Ryan said. “It will allow regulators to track PFAS in the environment, and for people to test their own tap water.”  

A new way to detect PFAS

Ryan and Sandia postdoctoral researcher Nathan Bays have developed that technology.

The pair stumbled onto the approach while experimenting with a mass spectrometer and a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI. The process uses electrically charged droplets sprayed at the surface of an adsorbent that ionizes only the target chemical, not the adsorbent itself.

 Bays and Ryan said the results were unexpected.

“We had toyed with the idea of using DESI to confirm the presence of PFAS on adsorbent materials,” Ryan said. “When we did some preliminary testing, not only did we confirm the presence of PFAS, but we noticed that we got results well beyond our standard analysis.”

“At this point, it became very clear we had an opportunity to push further on this work,” Bays said. “One step at a time, we went from just being able to see PFAS at parts-per-million—to levels at parts-per-billion, and finally low parts-per-trillion.”

Ryan and Bays’ technique starts with an adsorbent about the size of a Rice Krispy. The adsorbent is placed in a solution for testing. Three minutes later, it is removed and placed in front of a mass spectrometer where it is sprayed with electrically charged droplets. The droplets remove PFAS from the adsorbent and carry it into the mass spectrometer, where it is analyzed for PFAS concentration and type.

The entire process can take as little as five minutes.

“It’s one of those outcomes that wasn’t exactly planned as we had initially envisioned it,” Ryan said. “It was surprising to see the concentration of PFAS so clearly. That may be why it hadn’t been done before. It was just unexpected.”

The pair has published details of the process in hopes it can be commercialized for widespread use. They also hope it can be developed to tackle other environmental pollutants besides PFAS and used for environmental analytics and testing such as off- gassing measurements tied to Sandia’s nuclear deterrence work.   

“It could help researchers understand the system’s environment and the off-gassing of chemicals in certain work,” Ryan said. “While our first phase worked with liquid, our more recent work has delved into the gas phase.”

Why they do it

Both Ryan and Nathan are passionate about this technology and PFAS remediation. Developing the new test is just a small part of the broader work they do aimed at reducing PFAS pollution.

“I’ve been working on this specific project since I joined Sandia two and a half years ago,” Nathan said. “My whole career has evolved around environmental remediation, so this was a natural fit. I’m a big outdoors person. My wife and I like to go out in nature, and we don’t like to see our world be polluted like this.”

One of the biggest focuses of PFAS remediation has been at U.S. Air Force bases, where soil and groundwater have been impacted by the long-term use of firefighting foam.

Ryan’s big goal, however, is to give people more power over their health. “More and more research shows that PFAS can have negative outcomes at even low concentrations, so detecting at those low concentrations is key,” Ryan said. “We don’t want families to worry about whether they can afford groceries this week or test their water for safety.”

Catalytic treatment of industrial pollutants has long faced a practical bottleneck. Noble metal nanoparticles are highly active, but they often tend to aggregate, reducing the number of active usable reaction sites. Traditional methods for producing polymer-supported catalysts can also be slow, multistep, and dependent on toxic reagents, surfactants, or poorly controlled batch conditions. Meanwhile, 4-nitrophenol remains a hazardous pollutant commonly found in industrial wastewater, and existing catalytic systems often suffer from limited surface area, uneven active-species distribution, and inefficient mass transfer. Based on these challenges, in-depth research is needed on controllable catalyst supports and continuous-flow catalytic platforms.

In a study published (DOI: 10.1038/s41378-026-01176-6) in 2026 in Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Li Ma and colleagues from Xi’an Jiaotong University and collaborating institutions reported a spiral-microchannel platform for continuously producing morphology-tailored polystyrene microspheres loaded with Ag, Ag-Au, or Ag-Pt nanoparticles. Corresponding author Nanjing Hao and the team showed that tuning the structure of the polymer carrier could directly improve catalytic behavior in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

The researchers began with uniform solid polystyrene seeds averaging 1.48 μm in diameter, then used water-ethanol and water-toluene systems to drive them into hollow, dimpled, bowl-like, and open-hole forms. In one striking transformation, unsymmetrical dimples evolved into open-hole structures within 5 minutes after introducing a small amount of toluene. These evolving microspheres were then passed through a spiral microreactor, where rapid microscale mixing enabled metal precursors to form and anchor onto the polymer surface in minutes rather than hours. Hollow and open-hole structures provided larger surface areas and confined microenvironments, helping load more nanoparticles and improve mass transfer. The system produced evenly distributed Ag, Ag-Pt, and Ag-Au nanoparticles, while also reducing aggregation. Among all tested catalysts, open-hole Ag-Pt microspheres performed best, reaching a reaction rate constant of 1.73 × 10^^-2 s^{^-1} and an activity parameter of 692 s^^-1·g^^-1, while maintaining catalytic activity over five reuse cycles.

The study suggests that catalyst performance can be engineered not only by changing the metal itself, but also by reshaping the support beneath it. By controlling carrier morphology, the team was able to regulate nanoparticle immobilization, improve accessibility of active sites, and strengthen confined synergistic catalysis. In this sense, the microreactor becomes more than a synthesis tool: it becomes a way to manufacture catalytic function with precision.

The implications go beyond a single wastewater reaction. A scalable continuous-flow strategy for robust bimetallic catalysts could be valuable in environmental remediation, fine chemical synthesis, and other industrial processes where fast mixing, stable active sites, and reusable catalytic materials are essential. Just as importantly, the study turns a toxic pollutant into a useful product, pointing toward a broader model of greener chemistry in which waste treatment and value creation can happen together.

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References

DOI

10.1038/s41378-026-01176-6

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-026-01176-6

Funding information

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFC3904301), the Key R&D Program of Shaanxi Province (2024GX-YBXM-471), the Qin Chuang Yuan Talent Program (2021QCYRC4-33), and the Distinguished Overseas Young Scholars of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (GYKP032).

About Microsystems & Nanoengineering

Microsystems & Nanoengineering is an online-only, open access international journal devoted to publishing original research results and reviews on all aspects of Micro and Nano Electro Mechanical Systems from fundamental to applied research. The journal is published by Springer Nature in partnership with the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, supported by the State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology.

Newswise — Marine mud is generated in large quantities during dredging, coastal development, land reclamation, and marine construction. In fast-growing urban regions, this sediment can become a major waste-management burden because it is wet, sticky, difficult to handle, and often contaminated with heavy metals. Conventional stabilization methods usually rely heavily on Portland cement, which is effective but energy-intensive and carbon-heavy. Alternative geopolymer approaches are promising, yet many still depend on corrosive or costly activators and do not always immobilize contaminants well enough. Based on these challenges, there is a pressing need to carry out in-depth research on low-carbon, practical, and safe strategies for the remediation and in-situ reuse of contaminated marine mud.

A team from Harbin Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University Shenzhen International Graduate School, the University of Abomey-Calavi, and the Beninese Office for Geological and Mining Research reported (DOI: 10.1007/s11783-026-2122-z) online on January 10, 2026, in  ENGINEERING Environment that contaminated marine mud can be remediated and recycled in situ into engineered backfill materials using low-carbon formulations built around aluminosilicate raw materials.

To build a treatment route that was both effective and realistic, the researchers designed the work in stages. They collected marine mud from a construction site in Macao, then tested blends containing Portland cement, fly ash, slag, river sand, water, and low-concentration NaOH. The goal was not simply to harden the mud, but to find a mix that could improve strength, suppress heavy-metal release, and remain practical for large-scale site use. After preparing and curing the samples, the team evaluated compressive strength, unconfined compressive strength, leaching toxicity, and microstructural characteristics through XRF, XRD, SEM, and TEM analyses. The strongest optimized mixtures achieved unconfined compressive strengths (UCS) values of 7.75 MPa with 25% OPC, 4.24 MPa with fly ash, 8.69 MPa with slag, and 3.15 MPa with a river-sand formulation—each above the 1 MPa benchmark for backfill application. At the same time, the treatment sharply reduced the leaching of As, Ba, Cd, Cr, and Pb, with Pb completely removed in all mixtures. XRD and morphological analyses further showed that the stabilized mud developed mineral and gel phases dominated by SiO₂, Ca(CO₃), Mn_1.7Fe₁.₃O₄, and complex silicate structures, which helped explain the improved strength and contaminant immobilization.

“This work shows that contaminated marine mud does not have to remain an environmental liability,” the study suggests in essence. By replacing more carbon-intensive treatment approaches with lower-carbon mineral formulations, the research reframes marine sediment as a reusable resource rather than a disposal problem. Just as importantly, the team designed the system with real construction conditions in mind, including the use of locally available river sand and simplified activation chemistry. That practical orientation makes the study especially valuable for coastal cities facing both land scarcity and mounting waste-treatment costs.

The implications extend beyond one sediment stream. This research offers a route toward cleaner coastal engineering, lower landfill dependence, and more circular use of waste materials in infrastructure projects. For regions where marine mud accounts for a large share of construction waste, in-situ recycling could ease pressure on disposal sites while cutting transport and treatment expenses. The study also aligns with wider carbon-reduction goals by reducing reliance on traditional cement-heavy stabilization. In the longer term, such low-carbon remediation systems could help cities manage contaminated sediments more safely while turning them into useful materials for backfilling, site restoration, and future sustainable construction applications.

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References

DOI

10.1007/s11783-026-2122-z

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-026-2122-z

Funding Information

This work was supported by Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, China (No. 2022B1515130006). Acknowledgements are also given to Shenzhen Science and Technology Program: Sustainable Development Special Project (No.KCXST20221021111408021) and International Collaboration Project (No. GJHZ20220913143007013).

About  ENGINEERING Environment 

ENGINEERING Environment  is an international journal in environmental disciplines, jointly sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Tsinghua University, and Higher Education Press. The journal is dedicated to advancing and disseminating the discoveries of cutting-edge theories, innovations in engineering technology, and practices in technological application within the environmental discipline. Adhering to the principle of integrating scientific theories with engineering technologies, the journal emphasizes the convergence of environmental protection with One Health, climate change response, and sustainable development. It places particular emphasis on the forward-looking nature of novel technologies and emerging challenges, the practicality of solutions, and interdisciplinary innovations.

Newswise — By comparing natural microbial adaptation with targeted bioaugmentation using an antibiotic-degrading strain, the study reveals how biodegradation capacity fundamentally reshapes microbial succession, stability, and resilience under sustained antibiotic exposure.

Environmental risk assessments often judge antibiotics solely by concentration and intrinsic toxicity, assuming uniform microbial responses. However, microbial communities actively shape contaminant fate, particularly when they include antibiotic-degrading organisms. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX), a common sulfonamide found in wastewater and surface waters, illustrates this complexity. Even at low levels, SMX can suppress sensitive taxa, disrupt community structure, and impair essential functions such as nutrient removal. Yet some bacteria possess specialized genes that enzymatically inactivate SMX, reducing antibiotic pressure for the broader community. How such biodegradation capacity governs microbial succession and community stability remains insufficiently understood.

A study (DOI:10.48130/biocontam-0025-0016) published in Biocontaminant on 12 December 2025 by Bin Liang’s team, Harbin Institute of Technology, demonstrates that antibiotic-degrading bacteria act as keystone protectors that mitigate antibiotic stress, stabilize microbial community succession, and enhance ecosystem resilience, highlighting biodegradation capacity as a critical determinant of environmental risk.

Using a controlled sequencing batch reactor framework, the study first isolated and characterized an SMX-degrading bacterium from activated sludge by continuous subculture with SMX as the sole carbon source, then tested how degrader-enabled biodegradation reshapes community succession by inoculating the strain under defined antibiotic stress and tracking community dynamics with SMX degradation assays, ex situ degradation tests, and 16S rRNA sequencing across multiple reactor phases. The isolated strain, Paenarthrobacter sp. M5 (100% 16S rRNA similarity to P. ureafaciens), fully degraded 30 mg/L SMX within 10 h, producing equimolar 3-amino-5-methylisoxazole and carrying the key gene sadA; mechanistically, a SadA/SadC two-component system drove ipso-hydroxylation and cleavage of the -C–S–N- bond, yielding non-antibacterial intermediates (including p-aminophenol that could be further metabolized for growth). Four reactor treatments were established—NN (no SMX), SN (natural adaptation with SMX), NM (M5 inoculated without SMX), and SM (pre-adaptation: M5 inoculated with SMX)—revealing that SN communities acquired biodegradation gradually (over ~28 cycles at 2 mg/L SMX), whereas SM communities showed immediate, efficient degradation after inoculation; with increasing SMX loads, both SMX-exposed groups ultimately achieved complete removal, indicating inducible biodegradation under sustained selection. When SMX exposure was paused and then reintroduced at high levels, functional recovery ranked SN > SM > NM, while NN showed ~70% degradation with high replicate variability, underscoring how evolutionary history governs resilience. Ex situ assays reinforced these trends: SN improved to 36.3%, 62.3%, and 100% removal at 2, 5, and 10 mg/L SMX, SM remained consistently complete across phases, NN stayed low (12.2%–16.6%), and NM declined (30.5%→13.4%), highlighting antibiotics as the key driver sustaining degrader colonization. 16S/OTU analyses showed a shared core microbiome across all groups, but shared OTUs dropped sharply during restructuring (from 1,035 to ~440) before stabilizing (~533–578), while α-diversity patterns revealed that slower biodegradation in SN retarded succession and preserved higher diversity during T2–T4, whereas efficient degradation in SM buffered antibiotic stress and restored “regular” successional dynamics. Multivariate statistics (ADONIS/MRPP) confirmed dose-dependent SMX-driven divergence in SN versus NN, but minimal structural differences between SM and NN through most phases, indicating that bioaugmentation-mediated biodegradation can protect community structure from antibiotic perturbation.

These findings have direct relevance for wastewater treatment and environmental management. Antibiotic-degrading bacteria can stabilize treatment performance by protecting key microbial functions from antibiotic disruption. Targeted bioaugmentation or monitoring of native degrader populations could reduce the risk of treatment failure and limit conditions that favor the spread of antibiotic resistance.

###

References

DOI

10.48130/biocontam-0025-0016

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.48130/biocontam-0025-0016

Funding Information

The study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52322007), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2023B1515020077), and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (Grant No. JCYJ20240813105125034).

About Biocontaminant

Biocontaminant is a multidisciplinary platform dedicated to advancing fundamental and applied research on biological contaminants across diverse environments and systems. The journal serves as an innovative, efficient, and professional forum for global researchers to disseminate findings in this rapidly evolving field.

A woman is celebrating her third wedding anniversary after marrying a river.

Mrs. Meg Avon, 29, was blessed in holy matrimony with the River Avon in the South West of England.

The Bristol-born researcher, activist, and writer explains how she and her “darling” still keep their romance alive as they celebrate their third anniversary.

She married the River Avon in a “joyful” ceremony to protect it and raise awareness of water pollution on 17 June 2023.

Meg – née Trump – says she and the river are still “very much in love” three years on.

Meg said: “I am still finding time to swim in the river every week – even in the winter when it has been particularly wet, which always feels riskier!

“But I am committed, and every experience I have in the water is lush.

“I’ve even been finding new ways to connect with the river – from swimming in various spots along the stretch to meeting people from various art and environmental communities at different points.”

The keen open water swimmer said their campaign for water protection is still “very much” in the public consciousness – particularly with the recent release of the C4 doc ‘Dirty Business’, which explores the UK sewage crisis.

Meg said, “It really is lovely to see the recognition.

“People still really connect with our local story and how much it influences the wider national story.

“A lot of the law feels incomprehensible and hard to reach and understand for a big majority of the population, so having a story that makes it relatable is so powerful.

“We all understand marriage because it’s about love and law – the governing forces!”

The campaign group Meg is also a part of, Conham Bathers, set out to initially obtain designated bathing water status in the river Avon, which they have been unable to acquire due to it’s poor water quality.

Meg said, “I’m not surprised by the water quality results.

“I think a lot of people are angry and upset still, and it is important to make people aware of what’s going on.

“It really is sad, but I still see so much beauty.

“The water doesn’t feel disgusting and awful every day.

“On the days when water is clearer, it makes me hopeful that the river can be like that every day.

“Getting in the water is one of the quickest and easiest ways to completely immerse yourself in nature, which is what young people need now more than ever before, with the rise of technology.

“It’s important to keep raising awareness of how people can use that fear and outrage into something that is motivating and not off-putting!”

Her campaign group also hopes to obtain personhood rights for the river Avon, which would not only help in the fight to protect it, but also enable the two to “renew their vows” and be “officially” wed.

Meg said, “I don’t believe the river is an object.

“I think it is an actual entity that deserves rights like any other living thing.

“Though in legal terms, the river is still viewed as an object and not a subject with rights – so you can’t legally marry an object.

“But if we obtain these rights for the river, hopefully I’ll be able to renew my vows and legally marry the river!

“I might even wear a suit this time.

“We are likely to put the charter forward this year – it would be amazing if it came into effect, and it is possible.”

Meg says she is meeting with councillors across the country in an attempt to bring about the UK’s first cross council charter recognising the rights of the river.

Newswise — By comparing sulfuric and boric acid absorption systems, they found sulfuric acid delivers higher recovery rates and reduces isotope fractionation, even at low concentrations. Field applications successfully distinguished emissions from cropland, livestock, orchards, and vegetables, improving the accuracy of ammonia source identification.

NH₃ is the most important alkaline gas in the atmosphere and a major contributor to air pollution. It reacts with sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ) to form ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate, key components of fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) that threaten human health, ecosystems, and climate balance. Because agricultural activities dominate NH₃ emissions, accurate source identification is essential for effective air-quality management. δ¹⁵N provides a powerful tool for distinguishing among fertilizers, livestock waste, and other sources. However, reliable isotope tracing depends on precise sampling. Common acidic absorbents used in passive collection may introduce isotope fractionation, particularly at low concentrations, highlighting the need for systematic methodological evaluation.

A study (DOI: 10.48130/nc-0025-0017) published in Nitrogen Cycling on 16 January 2026 by Chaopu Ti’s team, Chinese Academy of Sciences, establishes a more accurate and reliable method for nitrogen isotope analysis of atmospheric ammonia, improving source identification and supporting effective air pollution control strategies.

To evaluate the suitability of different acidic absorbents for NH₃ recovery and δ¹⁵N analysis, researchers conducted controlled laboratory experiments using (NH₄)₂SO₄ and certified N isotope reference materials (USGS-25, USGS-26, and IAEA-N1) as volatilization substrates, each with an initial NH₄⁺–N mass of 2.00 mg. NH₃ released during reaction was passively captured using sponge samplers containing either sulfuric acid or boric acid solutions, and recovery efficiency, reproducibility (CV), and isotope conversion performance were systematically assessed across NH₄⁺ concentrations of 20–100 μmol L⁻¹. Results showed that sulfuric acid achieved consistently high NH₃ recovery rates (95.98–96.88%, mean 96.43%, CV 0.47%) for (NH₄)₂SO₄ and similarly high recoveries for isotope standards (96.03–99.09%), indicating excellent precision and minimal isotopic bias. In contrast, boric acid produced significantly lower recovery rates (80.47–86.48%, mean 83.90%) and greater variability, suggesting potential isotope fractionation, especially at low concentrations. Conversion curves between δ¹⁵N–NH₄⁺ and δ¹⁵N–N₂O demonstrated that sulfuric acid maintained slopes close to the theoretical 0.5 across all concentrations, even before correction, reflecting stable isotope conversion and minimal blank effects. Boric acid showed weaker performance at 20 μmol L⁻¹, where slopes deviated markedly from theoretical expectations, though higher concentrations improved accuracy after correction. Accuracy tests confirmed that both methods reproduced certified δ¹⁵N values within ±0.5‰, but sulfuric acid exhibited superior stability and lower impurity interference. Field application of the optimized sulfuric acid method further revealed distinct δ¹⁵N signatures among agricultural NH₃ sources: cropland (−32.87‰), livestock (−36.64‰), orchards (−19.63‰), and vegetables (−24.95‰), with cropland and livestock significantly more depleted in ¹⁵N. Overall, the results demonstrate that 0.1 mol L⁻¹ sulfuric acid provides higher recovery, stronger reproducibility, and more reliable δ¹⁵N determination across variable concentration ranges, making it the preferred absorbent for atmospheric NH₃ source apportionment.

This study identifies sulfuric acid as the optimal absorbent for accurate δ¹⁵N analysis across varying NH₃ concentrations, providing a more reliable framework for ammonia source tracing. Enhanced isotope precision improves quantification of emissions from fertilizers, livestock, and other agricultural sources. The method strengthens nitrogen source apportionment, supports targeted fertilizer management, and offers robust scientific evidence for reducing PM₂.₅ formation and mitigating regional air pollution.

###

References

DOI

10.48130/nc-0025-0017

Original Souce URL

https://doi.org/10.48130/nc-0025-0017

Funding information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42177313), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFC3707402).

About Nitrogen Cycling

Nitrogen Cycling is a multidisciplinary platform for communicating advances in fundamental and applied research on the nitrogen cycle. It is dedicated to serving as an innovative, efficient, and professional platform for researchers in the field of nitrogen cycling worldwide to deliver findings from this rapidly expanding field of science.

Newswise — From brightly colored textile dyes to persistent pesticides and antibiotics, many modern pollutants dissolved in water — such as Bisphenol A — resist traditional treatment methods. A promising approach uses electricity to power chemical reactions in water over an electrode surface. Much like in a battery, electrodes send and receive electrical current that drives chemical reactions.

This process, known as electrocatalysis, generates a class of highly reactive oxygen-containing compounds, known as reactive oxygen species or oxidants, at the electrode surface. These powerful oxidants, which include ozone and hydrogen peroxide, can break down even the most stubborn contaminants, producing cleaner water. However, because these oxygen species are unstable, degrade over time and exist in trace amounts — down to the parts-per-billion level — they have been notoriously difficult to detect and quantify.

In a study published in ACS Catalysis, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory report a new method for detecting and quantifying these short-lived oxygen species in real time with unprecedented sensitivity. Their approach revealed not only how much of each oxidant is produced, but also which specific species are formed under different treatment conditions.

“These oxygen species don’t last long, and they’re hard to detect individually,” said Argonne Electrochemist Scientist Pietro Papa Lopes, who led the study. ​“But knowing which ones are present and in what quantities is essential for improving water treatment technologies.”

Importantly, the team’s findings have applications beyond water treatment. One example is fuel cells. They convert hydrogen or other chemical fuels into electricity. Another is electrolyzers. They can split water molecules to produce hydrogen fuel or convert carbon dioxide into aviation fuels, for example.

The researchers used a method involving two electrodes to determine which oxidants were generated at the electrode surface. The first was a disk where a water oxidation reaction took place, generating the reactive oxygen species. The second was a concentric ring electrode. It produced an electrical signal that could detect and quantify the reactive oxygen species.

They tested the performance of three materials as the disk electrode: lead dioxide, platinum and iridium oxide. Lead dioxide was selected for its known ability to generate significant amounts of ozone and relevance to pollutant degradation. Platinum and iridium oxide were included as controls, as earlier studies had suggested they do not produce measurable amounts of reactive oxygen species. But the results told a different story.

“Somewhat to our surprise, at high voltages, all three electrode materials produced measurable levels of hydrogen peroxide and ozone,” said Papa Lopes. ​“That finding matters. Those oxidants can degrade membranes and other components used in electrochemical technologies, which could impact their long-term performance.”

Another key result involved Faradaic efficiency — a measure of how much input electricity is converted into useful chemical products. The team found that lead dioxide converted up to 30% of the electrical energy into ozone. That’s a high efficiency for systems of this type and suggests strong potential for scalable pollutant breakdown technologies.

The study provides a new benchmark for scientists and engineers working to advance electrochemical water purification. By establishing a consistent, sensitive method for identifying and quantifying reactive oxygen species in electrochemical systems, the research enables better system design and more meaningful comparisons across experiments and technologies.

This work was conducted through the Advanced Materials for Energy-Water Systems (AMEWS) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Argonne and supported by DOE. AMEWS seeks to understand how water — and the substances it carries — interacts with solid materials at the molecular level.

In addition to Papa Lopes, contributing authors at Argonne include Igor Messias, Jacob Kupferberg, Askley Bielinski and Alex Martinson, as well as Raphael Nagao at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil. The research was funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

Robert Nelson and Christopher Reddy recognized for pioneering use of GCxGC to track and understand marine pollution

Newswise — Woods Hole, Mass. (February 20, 2026) — Two chemical oceanographers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) are being awarded the 2026 Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award by the International Symposium on Comprehensive Multidimensional Chromatography.

Robert Nelson and Christopher Reddy, both in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, are being recognized for more than 15 years of continuous, high-impact contributions in the field of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography, commonly known as GCxGC

GCxGC is an advanced analytical technique that separates and identifies highly complex mixtures of chemicals with exceptional detail.

With more than 60 years of combined experience, Nelson and Reddy have pioneered the use of this method to analyze pollutants in the ocean, revolutionizing the field of oil-spill forensics. Their work has advanced scientific understanding and informed response strategies for some of the most significant oil spills in recent history, including the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, as well as spills in San Francisco, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, and California, and internationally in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Korea, and Japan.

“As an oceanographer, I am particularly proud that this award is selected by, and presented to, analytical chemists—a field dedicated to advancing how chemicals are measured,” Reddy said. “It is a tremendous honor to have our work recognized by this community.”

“What is especially meaningful to me is that Chris and I worked so closely together—often on site collecting samples on boats and beaches, analyzing them, and writing about the results,” Nelson added. “This award reflects not just our technical work, but a long-term partnership forged in the field and in the lab.”

The Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award for GCxGC Research is one of the highest honors bestowed by the GCxGC community, recognizing sustained innovation and impact in analytical chemistry and separation science. Nelson and Reddy will receive the award at the 44th International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography & 21st GCxGC Symposium in Riva del Garda, Italy, this spring.

About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility.

Newswise — Environmental pollutant analysis typically requires complex sample pretreatment steps such as filtration, separation, and preconcentration. When solid materials such as sand, soil, or food residues are present in water samples, analytical accuracy often decreases, and filtration can unintentionally remove trace-level target pollutants along with the solids.

To address this challenge, a joint research team led by Dr. Ju Hyeon Kim at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), in collaboration with Professor Jae Bem You’s group at Chungnam National University, has developed a microfluidic-based analytical device that enables direct extraction and analysis of pollutants from solid-containing samples without any pretreatment.

Water, food, and environmental samples encountered in daily life may contain trace amounts of hazardous contaminants that are invisible to the naked eye. Accurate detection requires selective extraction and concentration of target analytes, a process traditionally achieved using liquid–liquid extraction (LLE). However, conventional LLE requires large volumes of solvents and is difficult to automate. Although liquid–liquid microextraction (LLME) has been introduced to overcome these limitations, its practical application has remained limited because samples containing solid particles still require a filtration step prior to extraction.

Existing analytical approaches typically follow a multistep workflow—solid removal, extraction, and analysis—which increases time and cost while reducing analytical reliability. These limitations pose significant challenges in fields closely related to public health, including environmental monitoring, drinking water safety, and pharmaceutical residue analysis.

The research team overcame these issues by designing a trap-based microfluidic device that confines a small volume of extractant droplet inside a microchamber while allowing the sample solution to flow continuously through an adjacent microchannel. This configuration enables rapid and selective mass transfer of target analytes into the extractant, while solid particles pass through the channel without interference. After extraction, the extractant droplet can be retrieved for downstream analysis.

Using this device, the researchers successfully detected perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a representative per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) increasingly regulated due to environmental and health concerns, as well as carbamazepine (CBZ), an anticonvulsant pharmaceutical compound. Notably, CBZ was extracted directly from sand-containing slurry samples without filtration. PFOA signals were detected within five minutes, and CBZ extracted from slurry samples was clearly identified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

The results demonstrate that the proposed microfluidic platform significantly reduces analytical steps while maintaining high reliability, highlighting its potential as a compact and automatable solution for environmental pollution monitoring, food safety inspection, and pharmaceutical and bioanalytical applications.

Dr. Kim noted that “integrating multiple pretreatment steps into a single process offers substantial advantages for on-site analysis and automated systems,” while KRICT President Young-Kuk Lee emphasized that “this technology can enhance the reliability of environmental and food safety analyses that directly impact public health.”

The study was published as a cover article in ACS Sensors (Impact Factor: 9.1; top 3.2% in JCR Analytical Chemistry) in December 2025. Dr. Ju Hyeon Kim (KRICT) and Professor Jae Bem You (Chungnam National University) served as corresponding authors, with Sung Wook Choi as the first author.

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KRICT is a non-profit research institute funded by the Korean government. Since its foundation in 1976, KRICT has played a leading role in advancing national chemical technologies in the fields of chemistry, material science, environmental science, and chemical engineering. Now, KRICT is moving forward to become a globally leading research institute tackling the most challenging issues in the field of Chemistry and Engineering and will continue to fulfill its role in developing chemical technologies that benefit the entire world and contribute to maintaining a healthy planet. More detailed information on KRICT can be found at https://www.krict.re.kr/eng/

The research was supported by the KRICT Core Research Program, the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Korea–Switzerland Innovation Program.

Newswise — Ground-level ozone is a major air pollutant that threatens human health, ecosystems, and climate stability. Despite aggressive reductions in nitrogen oxides and primary volatile organic compounds, ozone levels continue to exceed air quality standards in many regions. This paradox reflects the complex and nonlinear nature of atmospheric photochemistry, where reactive radicals control ozone formation. Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) are key intermediates in this process, acting as both sources and sinks of radicals. However, most previous studies have measured only a small subset of OVOCs, leaving major uncertainties in radical budgets. Based on these challenges, there is a critical need to systematically investigate how a broader spectrum of OVOCs drives radical cycling and ozone formation.

In a study published (DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100659) in January 2026 in Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, researchers from the Southern University of Science and Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Baptist University, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and the University of Helsinki investigated how oxygenated volatile organic compounds shape atmospheric chemistry in background air over southern China. Combining intensive field observations with photochemical box modeling, the team examined the role of OVOCs in radical cycling and ozone formation. Their results show that commonly used models relying on limited OVOC measurements substantially misrepresent radical budgets and ozone production under real atmospheric conditions.

The study combined high-resolution field measurements with a detailed photochemical box model to quantify the role of OVOCs in atmospheric radical chemistry. When models were constrained using only three commonly measured OVOCs, simulated hydroxyl radical levels were overestimated by up to 100 percent. By contrast, including measurements of 23 OVOCs brought simulations into close agreement with observations.

The analysis revealed that OVOC photolysis contributed approximately 49–61 percent of total radical production, making it the dominant radical source in background air. Surprisingly, several OVOCs present at relatively low concentrations accounted for a disproportionate share of radical generation. Errors in simulating these compounds caused cascading biases in radical budgets, altering ozone formation pathways.

The study further showed that traditional chemical mechanisms systematically overestimate some OVOCs while underestimating others, masking offsetting errors that appear acceptable when only limited measurements are used. These hidden inaccuracies significantly affect predictions of ozone production rates and sensitivity regimes. Overall, the findings demonstrate that a narrow observational focus can lead to misleading conclusions about the drivers of ozone pollution.

“This work shows that what we don’t measure can matter more than what we do,” said one of the study’s senior authors. “OVOCs have often been treated as secondary products, but our results demonstrate that they are central to controlling radical chemistry and ozone formation. Without comprehensive OVOC observations, models may appear accurate while fundamentally misrepresenting atmospheric processes. Expanding OVOC measurements is therefore essential for designing effective air quality management strategies in regions struggling with persistent ozone pollution.”

These findings have important implications for air pollution control and atmospheric modeling worldwide. Strategies focused solely on reducing traditional ozone precursors may fail if OVOC-driven radical chemistry is ignored. Incorporating comprehensive OVOC measurements can improve model accuracy, guide emission control priorities, and help policymakers identify more effective mitigation pathways. The study also highlights the need to update chemical mechanisms and expand monitoring networks to include reactive OVOC intermediates. Ultimately, recognizing the hidden role of OVOCs may be key to resolving the long-standing challenge of persistent surface ozone pollution in both developing and industrialized regions.

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References

DOI

10.1016/j.ese.2026.100659

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ese.2026.100659

Funding information

This research was funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council via Theme-Based Research Scheme (T24-504/17-N) and General Research Fund (HKBU 15219621), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42325504), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFC3706205), and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20220818100611024).

About Environmental Science and Ecotechnology

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology (ISSN 2666-4984) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open-access journal published by Elsevier. The journal publishes significant views and research across the full spectrum of ecology and environmental sciences, such as climate change, sustainability, biodiversity conservation, environment & health, green catalysis/processing for pollution control, and AI-driven environmental engineering. The latest impact factor of ESE is 14.3, according to the Journal Citation Reports^TM 2024.