Emerging polymer-based adsorbents for short-chain PFAS: mechanisms, performance, and research outlook

As regulation shifts toward highly mobile short-chain PFAS at sub-ng L−1 targets, conventional carbonaceous adsorbents often underperform in competitive real-water matrices. Polymer adsorbents have proliferated to address this gap, yet the rapidly growing body of literature has not been synthesized into mechanism-driven design guidance and a sustainability-oriented life-cycle perspective. Here, a unifying framework is proposed to guide polymer-based sorbent design for short-chain PFAS, by coupling headgroup anchoring, desolvation control, and fluorinated tail accommodation within confined polymer architectures. Representative polymer families (e.g., cyclodextrin polymers, molecularly imprinted polymers, hydrogels, and electroactive polymers) are critically assessed through this framework, linking molecular interactions to adsorption performance under realistic water matrices, and regeneration constraints. A life-cycle assessment is used to identify synthesis-stage environmental hotspots, and define break-even removal thresholds required for net environmental benefit. In summary, this review establishes cooperative microenvironment engineering as a governing principle for deployable short-chain PFAS remediation, and outlines pathways toward sustainable capture–concentrate–destroy systems suitable for practical applications.