Research progress in the application and degradation mechanism of perfluorooctanoic acid photocatalytic materials

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a typical perfluorinated compound widely existing in the environment. It is highly toxic and difficult to degrade, which seriously threatens eco-environmental safety and human genetic, immune, neurological and reproductive health. Hence, considerable attention has been drawn to its environmental hazard and risk prevention and control. With mild conditions, high treatment efficiency, low application cost, free secondary pollution and other advantages, photocatalytic technology has a broad application prospect in the field of PFOA degradation. In order to develop new photocatalytic materials with strong activity, good visible light absorption performance, and high stability, and achieve efficient degradation of PFOA in water, research progress in the preparation of photocatalytic degradation materials of PFOA in the past twenty years was systematically reviewed. The degradation characteristics and existing problems of different photocatalytic degradation materials were comprehensively analyzed. The reaction mechanism and activity enhancement mechanism of photocatalytic degradation materials were summarized, combined with the existing materials of photocatalytic degradation of PFOA, and eventually the photocatalytic degradation pathway of PFOA was clarified.