SBIR-STTR Award

Due to increasing concerns over long-term effects of PFOS and PFAS on human body, health based values were set by regulatory authoritative bodies for drinking water standard. Currenty lab-based PFOA and PFOS water tests cost $200-$300 per sample with a turnaround time of 2-3 weeks. In this program, 2W iTech LLC proposes to develop a low-cost fieldable sensing technology for detecting trace amounts of PFOA and PFOS in water down to 10 ppt. This unique molecular imprinting based analytical technique, which does not require any complicated instrumentation, will utilize a tiny polymeric chip to measure the concentration of fluorocarbons in aqueous solution. In Phase I, 2W iTech will develop a photonic crystal polymer sensor chip that exclusively binds PFOA and PFOS molecules inside its matrix and produces specific optical signals that can be construed using a UV-Vis spectrometer and correlated to the concentration of PFOA and PFOS in water. The proposed sensor will offer the following advanced attributes: high sensitivity, high specificity, fast detection, ease of operation, low power consumption, zero chemical release, and low operation cost. As a potential customer, Carollo Engineers has shown interest to test the sensor in filed.

Due to increasing concerns over the long-term health effects of PFOS and PFAS on the human body, regulatory agencies have set limits for the concentrations ofPFOS and PFAS in drinking water.Currently, lab-based PFOA and PFOS water tests cost $200-$300 per sample, with a turnaround time of 2-3 weeks.In the program, 2W iTech LLC Proposes to develop a low-cost fieldable sensing technology for detecting trace amounts of PFOA and PFOS in water down to 10 ppt.This unique molecular-imprinting-based analytical technique, which does not require complicated instrumentation will utilize a tiny polymeric-imprinting-based analytical technique, high specificity, fast detection ease of operation, low power concumption, zero chemical release, an low operation cost.In PhaseI, 2WiTech successfully demonstrated the feasibility of field analysis of PFAS using the proposed molecularly imprinted polymer sensing technology.A fabrication process for the molecularly imprinted sensor has been developed, and PFOA-imprinted sensors have been fabricated and evaluated.A detection limit of 10ppt was achieved for the trace detection of PFOA in a lab setting.These phase i development efforts have led to a patent application, which was filled in October 2019.In phase I, we performed a commercialazation assessment of the proposed field sensing technology and discovered that significant environmental benefits can be ecpected from this field sensing technology.It has been comfirmed that the detection of PFAS compounds in the field is absolutely a big problem to solve, and that current lab testing services are time-consuming and expensivean create bottlenecks for fairly large projects.Environmental engineering firms working on PFAS field analysis and treatment have shown tremendous interest in the technology including jacobs, Arcadis, and Carollo engineers.In Phase II, the sensor fabrication process will be optimized and scaled-up and selected will be validated for field PFAS analysis.The goal ofthe Phase II program is to further develop this sensing technology tpward full-scale commercializartion.