Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2022_OK_Weng

A Raman Sensor for In-situ Measurement of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Water

Institute: Oklahoma
USGS Grant Number:
Year Established: 2022 Start Date: 2022-09-01 End Date: 2023-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $236,187 Total Non-Federal Funds: $236,235

Principal Investigators: Binbin Weng

Project Summary: Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known as "forever chemicals" as they are extremely persistent with half-lives often estimated in centuries. These chemicals are broadly distributed and associated with a myriad of human health and environmental concerns, even when exposures occur at vanishingly low concentrations. To diagnose and preserve national water resources, PFAS must be reliably and rapidly detected. However, current methods of PFAS analysis are time-consuming, complicated, and expensive 'hyphenated' analytical procedures that lack the responsiveness essential for public health protection and mitigation assessments. This project aims to develop a novel proxy method (a sensor) to overcome the PFAS detection and quantification challenges and to enable environmental stewardship and reach public health goals.