So yes, from a materials performance POV. However, the world is starting to get serious about reducing PFAS pollution. For that reason alone I expect whole swaths of the world will limit use of ETFE and similar polymers outdoors at large scale.
For buildings where we do stick with glass, I hope to start seeing more smart glass, semitransparent photovoltaic glass, and hydrophobic coatings and textures. Those can to a lot to control heating, provide power, and reduce cleaning needs.
The PFAS problem isn’t with polymers per se, it’s with smaller compounds, primarily fluorosurfactants such as PFOS, which are used in things like stain-resistant carpet, stain-resistant pants, some grease-resistant biodegradable food containers, ski wax, some firefighting foam, etc.
Teflon can produce toxic compounds when heated, but it’s normally inert, but the production process uses emulsion polymerization with fluorosurfactant, so it contains some. ETFE production probably uses fluorosurfactant too, but it seems much easier to find an alternative for ETFE production than for teflon. I think some branched alkane-ether or alkane-sulfonate surfactant would probably work well enough.
So yes, from a materials performance POV. However, the world is starting to get serious about reducing PFAS pollution. For that reason alone I expect whole swaths of the world will limit use of ETFE and similar polymers outdoors at large scale.
For buildings where we do stick with glass, I hope to start seeing more smart glass, semitransparent photovoltaic glass, and hydrophobic coatings and textures. Those can to a lot to control heating, provide power, and reduce cleaning needs.
The PFAS problem isn’t with polymers per se, it’s with smaller compounds, primarily fluorosurfactants such as PFOS, which are used in things like stain-resistant carpet, stain-resistant pants, some grease-resistant biodegradable food containers, ski wax, some firefighting foam, etc.
Teflon can produce toxic compounds when heated, but it’s normally inert, but the production process uses emulsion polymerization with fluorosurfactant, so it contains some. ETFE production probably uses fluorosurfactant too, but it seems much easier to find an alternative for ETFE production than for teflon. I think some branched alkane-ether or alkane-sulfonate surfactant would probably work well enough.