The growing global concerns to public health from human exposure to perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) requires rapid, sensitive, in situ detection where current, state-of-the-art techniques are yet to adequately meet sensitivity standards of the real world. A synergistic approach for the targeted affinity-based capture of PFOS using a porous sorbent probe that enhances detection sensitivity by embedding it on a microfluidic platform is developed. This novel sorbent containing platform functions as an electrochemical sensor to directly measure PFOS concentration through a proportional change in electrical current (increase in impedance). The extremely high surface area and pore volume of mesoporous metal−organic framework (MOF) is used as the probe for targeted PFOS capture based on the affinity of the chromium center toward both the fluorine tail groups as well as the sulfonate functionalities. The MOF capture probes are sandwiched between microelectrodes (IDμE) inside a microfluidic channel. The nanoporous geometry, along with interdigitated microelectrodes, increases the signal-to-noise ratio tremendously.
