Electro-oxidation of perfluorooctanoic acid by carbon nanotube sponge anode and the mechanism.

As an emerging persistent organic pollutant (POPs), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) exists widely in natural environment. It is of particular significance to develop efficient techniques to remove low-concentration PFOA from the contaminated waters. In this work, we adopted a new material, carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge, as electrode to enhance electro-oxidation and achieve high removal efficiency of low-concentration (100μgL(-1)) PFOA from water.