Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives on Replacements for Fluorinated Organic Materials

Perfluorinated and fluorinated molecules are widely exploited in numerous applications, in which their unique structures and properties are essential to their performance. However, their environmental persistence, bioaccumulation, regulatory pressure on use, and potential health hazards mandate the limitation of their use and concurrent rapid development of suitable alternatives. While suitable substitutes may not be realistic in certain applications, a detailed understanding of their essential performance requirements is crucial to efficient design and identification of potential replacement materials. Discussions with different industries indicate a variety of reasons for using perfluorinated and fluorinated organic materials and a range of drive to eliminate their use and find replacements; in some cases, perfluorinated materials are critical. The goal of this talk is to identify key materials performance metrics and routes for limiting use or developing suitable replacements.