Breakthrough technology detects ‘forever chemicals’ faster, cheaper and at trace levels, on-site

Testing PFAS Detection in Professor Kris Campbell's lab. Photo by Luan Teed

Forever chemicals, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (often shortened to PFAS), are a global crisis found in everything from drinking water to food, cookware, clothes - even soaps. These chemicals (of which there are more than a thousand kinds) run the gamut from harmless to extremely toxic. The most toxic are linked to multiple types of cancer, infertility, developmental effects and delays in infants, as well as compromised immune systems.

Enter Electrical Engineering Professor Kris Campbell and Bamidele Omotowa of Pearlhill Technologies, LLC: together, they won a Small Business Technology Transfer Research grant from the National Institutes of Health. This power duo has created a technology that can immediately detect PFAS in a water sample, and at a cost that - if manufactured at scale - could be produced at competitive pricing.

From left: Bamidele Omotowa, President of Pearlhill Technologies, LLC,
engineering doctoral student Lukas Crockett, and Electrical Engineering Professor Kris Campbell

In an ideal world, PFAS chemicals would not exist. A second best option would be to detect and treat PFAS before it could ever contaminate ground, water or air. Current PFAS detection is not only expensive, but also time-consuming. A single sample sent for EPA-approved testing costs $300 and takes weeks, using costly equipment and highly specialized, immobile processes, such as liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.

"Our device is unique in that we can field deploy it," Campbell said. "We can go to a water stream or source, take a sample and get a real-time measurement of whether or not this chemical is present. With this, you can detect at the source right away. It's cheap. It's fast, and we're hoping it can become as sensitive as the lab system."

Thank the humble transistor

Rather like the discovery of penicillin (in which Alexander Fleming noticed a contaminating mold unexpectedly killing Staphylococcus bacteria in a petri dish), this technology began with a lucky accident and scientific observation.

The story begins in a research lab, with undergraduate students and transistors. A transistor is a fundamental electrical component used to amplify, stop or switch an electrical current. It is typically made from a silicon wafer with conductive elements such as copper or aluminum.

Graduate student Lukas Crockett holds up nine PFAS Detection technology devices. Photo by Luan Teed

In Campbell's lab, undergraduate researchers were working with transistors and examining them under microscopes. As the students leaned over their instruments, their breath came into contact with the devices, leading to unexpected variations in the results across different groups. Campbell realized that the transistors were responding to different chemicals present in the students' breath.

"Of course, the students were all excited and they ran around the lab finding every chemical they could to try and test it and see what it looked like," Campbell said.

Following this unexpected discovery, Campbell and her long-time colleague Omotowa, president of Pearlhill Technologies, LLC, asked themselves, "Can we really make a chemical sensor with this and do detection?"

The answer was yes.

Advancing accurate and affordable PFAS detection

The Idaho Microfabrication Lab, where Campbell's team tests their devices.

Over the next few years, the team began developing their own specialized transistors to determine if they could meet the EPA standards for detection of a range of PFAS chemicals, from the large and harmless perfluoroctane to the nearly undetectable and highly toxic perfluoropropanoic acid (called PFPrA).

Electrical engineering master's student Jacob Jackson was the first to apply machine learning to the chemical detection device. His undergraduate peer Lukas Crockett (now an electrical engineering doctoral student working on the project) remembers the slow road from the initial 'ah-ha' moment to the creation of an applicable piece of technology.

Graduate student Lukas Crockett tests PFAS Detection technology. Photo by Luan Teed

"For the first year and a half, it was kind of up in the air whether it was going to work," Crockett said. "So when we first started getting some real PFAS measurements and doing some machine learning, and we actually saw 'Oh, wow, we can tell the difference between these two…' that was the biggest moment."

When tested in methanol (a common alcohol used in laboratories), the team's patented technology was able to detect PFPrA up to 86.7% accuracy. Large perfluoroctane molecules were detected with an impressive 97% accuracy.

"We've detected PFAS in methanol down to one part per trillion, which puts us at the current EPA regulations," Campbell said.

The team's next steps are to reach the same levels of accuracy in real water samples, which unlike lab water and methanol samples, are complicated by other contaminants.

With seed funding from the School of the Environment, Campbell is also collaborating with Boise State chemistry faculty Jenee Cyran and her research students to further study how the device operates.

Partners in PFAS Detection

Campbell and Omotowa began working together on PFAS sensor development in 2021. With support from Boise State's Office of Technology Transfer - an arm of the Division of Research and Economic Development that supports research activities, collaborates with industry, and assists with the commercialization of intellectual property - the team was able to file for patent protection and pursue funding for this technology.

Professor Kris Campbell (left) and engineering doctoral student Lukas Crockett. Photo by Luan Teed

The recent National Institutes of Health Small Business Technology Transfer award to Pearlhill Technologies, LLC (with a subaward of $101,000 to Boise State) is a testament to the national interest in their research's promise.

"The value of this [technology] is just enormous," Omotowa said. "There is enormous gain to the country, to the society and to the government: the biggest gain is this ability to control the impact on our health. That [impact] is a danger that is looming around us."

In an upcoming study, Campbell and Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Sondra Miller will use UPWARDS award funds to put the device to the test in semiconductor wastewater in spring of 2026.

Semiconductor fabrication is a major source of PFAS pollution, so this technology stands to be extremely valuable to Idahoans' health as the state continues to increase semiconductor production. If PFAS pollution is detected, industries and local governments can make informed strategies to mitigate the spread.

"If Boise State hired one person right, they did with Kris," Omotowa praised his colleague. "This progress is national progress, and we're grateful for that."

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R41ES037570. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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