The goal of this program is to develop a field transportable sensing technology for detecting trace amounts of PFOA and PFOS in groundwater 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 can be easily integrated with autonomous sample collection and data processing technologies, and 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. The feasibility of the proposed approach will be demonstrated through a reproducible calibration curve for a range of concentrations from 0 to 100 ppt of PFOA and PFOS in water.AFFF,fluorocarbon,groundwater,PFOA,PFOS,trace detection
