Ultrasensitive Electrochemical Sensor for Perfluorooctanoic Acid Detection Using Two-dimensional Aluminium Quasicrystal

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel 2D aluminium quasicrystal-based electrochemical sensor capable of detecting PFOA at sub-picomolar levels, offering high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability for environmental pollutant monitoring.

Contribution

The study introduces a new 2D aluminium quasicrystal sensor that achieves ultrasensitive detection of PFOA at sub-picomolar levels, surpassing existing detection methods.

Findings

Limit of detection of 0.59 pM for PFOA.

Sensor maintains stability with only 15% variation after 90 days.

High selectivity and reproducibility demonstrated.

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred as "forever chemicals," are pervasive environmental pollutants due to their resistance to degradation. Among these, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) poses significant threats to human health, contaminating water sources globally. Here, we have demonstrated the potential of a novel electrochemical sensor based on two-dimensional (2D) aluminium-based multicomponent quasicrystals (2D-Al QC) for the ultrasensitive sub-picomolar level detection of PFOA. The 2D-Al QC-inked electrode was employed here to detect PFOA by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The limit of detection (LoD) achieved is 0.59 +/- 0.05 pM. The sensor was evaluated for selectivity with other interfering compounds, repeatability of cycles, and reproducibility for five similar electrodes with a deviation of 0.8 %. The stability of the sensor has also been analysed after ninety days ,which shows a minimal variation of 15%. Spectroscopic techniques and theoretical calculations were further utilized to understand the interaction between the 2D-Al QC and PFOA. The results demonstrate that the 2D-Al QC offers a promising platform for the rapid and sensitive detection of PFOA, potentially addressing current environmental monitoring challenges.