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Through the Werner Baer Post-Doctoral Position at the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign (UIUC), I will engage in the design of electroactive redox-polymers for the electrochemical removal and concentration of micropollutants of concern with a particular focus on the selective electrochemical removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in specific contexts of wastewater treatment in Brazil. The main hypothesis I intend to explore at UIUC is that the presence of the amino acid backbone in nitroxide-derived polymers may play an important role in the recognition and adsorption of PFAS, enhancing selectivity, electrosorption and regeneration.
At UIUC, I intend to fabricate and optimize heterogeneous the redox-active materials and evaluate their electrochemical performance in real wastewater samples collected from Brazil. My research aims to investigate the molecular interactions between PFAS and the new synthesized materials, characterizing the adsorption efficiency and analyzing potential transformation byproducts through analytical techniques. Additionally, collaboration will be carried out with wastewater treatment plants to obtain secondary wastewater samples from both Champaign County and different Brazilian states, in order to implement these materials in diverse environmental conditions, and explore renewable energy sources into sustainable water treatment systems in Brazil.