Dip and taste PFAS to detect and classify from environmental water samples
Yisha Tang1, Seung-Ju Choi2, Chloe Thomas3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States.
Journal of Hazardous Materials
|January 14, 2026
Summary
A new method uses paper chips and smartphone analysis to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This system offers reliable, portable, and scalable environmental toxicant detection.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Detecting diverse environmental toxicants like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is challenging.
- Existing methods struggle with the wide range of PFAS chemical structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel, reliable, and portable method for detecting PFAS in various water samples.
- To correlate molecular interactions with PFAS presence and type using automated analysis.
Main Methods:
- A novel system involving dipping paper chips into water samples with biologically interacting molecules (BIMs).
- The System Automated Loading for Sample Analysis (SALSA) for consistent sample delivery.
- Smartphone video analysis of capillary action and cloud-based flow velocity evaluation.
- Machine learning algorithms trained on over 10,000 flow profiles.
Main Results:
- Successfully correlated PFAS-BIM interactions with flow velocities.
- Classified PFAS presence at concentrations of 1000, 10, and 0.1 parts per trillion (ppt).
- Identified specific PFAS types based on flow profile patterns.
Conclusions:
- The integrated system provides a reliable, portable, and scalable solution for PFAS detection.
- Observed PFAS-BIM interaction patterns suggest potential biological relevance for environmental monitoring.
- This approach offers a promising advancement in environmental toxicant analysis.
