Chemists from the New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed a novel method to detect trace levels of PFAS, or forever chemicals, in a variety of matrices. The detection can be completed in under three minutes, an achievement that could assist researchers in expediting studying and addressing the bioaccumulation of PFAS.
The study, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, utilizes paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) to analyze the molecular composition of a sample. PS-MS provides sensitivity levels 10-100 times greater than current PFAS testing methods that rely on liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Additionally, the method can be utilized to analyze soil, tap water, or food packaging in under 3 minutes.
"There are thousands of different species of PFAS, but we've yet to understand the extent of their distribution in our environment because the current testing methods are costly and time-consuming, taking hours for sample preparation and analysis in some cases," said Hao Chen, NJIT chemistry professor. "What our study demonstrates is a much faster, sensitive and versatile method that can monitor our drinking water, land and consumer products for contamination in minutes."
Working with NJIT’s BioSmart center, the researchers have successfully begun integrating the analysis techniques with novel PFAS remediation methods. "Remarkably, in our lab we were able to couple this analytical method to a novel degradation catalyst, which degrades 98.7% of PFAS in drinking water samples within three hours," said Wunmi Sadik, chair of NJIT's Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences.
The method developed by the team not only promises to speed up PFAS detection in consumer products but also shows promise towards being an effective tool for PFAS remediation and airborne monitoring.