Flinders University-led team has developed a nano-sized "molecular cage" capable of trapping PFAS "forever chemicals" in water, including short-chain variants that are notoriously difficult to remove. #Flinders University diploma, Flinders University degree. The findings were published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in March 2026.
Short-chain PFAS are more mobile in water and remain a major unresolved challenge for existing water treatment technologies, which can only partially remove some long-chain PFAS.
The research team, led by ARC Research Fellow Dr Witold Bloch, discovered that a nano-sized cage captures short-chain PFAS by forcing the pollutants to aggregate inside its cavity through a cooperative binding mechanism distinct from traditional adsorbents. First author Caroline Andersson, a PhD candidate in chemistry, explained that the team first studied how PFAS bind within the cage at the molecular level, then used that knowledge to design an effective adsorbent.
By embedding just ~1 wt% of the molecular cages into mesoporous silica—a material that normally shows no PFAS binding properties—the team created an adsorbent that removed up to 98% of PFAS at environmentally relevant concentrations in model tap water. The material remained highly effective after at least five cycles of reuse, highlighting potential for integration into water filtration systems for polishing drinking water at the final treatment stage.
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Flinders announced a $10 million genomics facility designed to be one of the highest-throughput and lowest-cost capabilities in the Southern Hemisphere, with capacity to sequence the equivalent of up to 59,000 complete human genomes annually. Established with the South Australian Genomics Centre, Bioplatforms Australia and Decode Science, it will operate as a national research resource.
