Technology Description:
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent water contaminants that are difficult to monitor outside centralized laboratories. Standard analytical workflows can be sensitive but often require specialized instruments, trained personnel, sample handling, and turnaround time that limit real-time decision-making in the field. There is a need for practical, selective, and affordable PFAS screening tools for water utilities, environmental testing, remediation, industrial compliance, and community water-quality monitoring.
Rowan’s technology is a fluorous-interface gated field-effect transistor (FET) sensing platform for detecting PFAS and related fluorinated compounds in water. The sensor uses a fluorous gate interface to preferentially interact with fluorinated analytes and convert those interactions into measurable electrical signals. Configurations can support electrical readout alone or a dual electrical and optical response using fluorinated polyaniline (F-PANI), enabling portable, label-free field measurements with built-in signal confirmation.
Potential Applications / Applicability:
On-site PFAS screening for drinking water, groundwater, surface water, wastewater, and industrial effluent; continuous monitoring for water utilities and wastewater treatment plants; remediation and filtration process monitoring; environmental compliance and field research; integration into handheld water-testing kits or distributed sensor networks.
Key Benefits:
Opportunity:
Rowan University seeks licensing, sponsored research, field-testing, and product-development partners to advance this PFAS sensing platform toward portable water-quality monitoring products and distributed sensing systems. Candidate partners include environmental sensor manufacturers, water utilities, environmental testing laboratories, remediation companies, industrial water-quality monitoring providers, and organizations developing IoT-enabled environmental monitoring networks. Patent application pending.
Development Status:
Initial laboratory validation and prototype development are underway for the fluorous-interface FET sensing platform, including functionalized F-PANI interfaces and extended-gate electrical readout. Optimization is focused on sensitivity, selectivity, reproducibility, aqueous stability, miniaturization, and field validation.
Patent Information: Patent Pending