Issue 25, 2025

Effects of surface functionalization on the electrosynthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

Abstract

Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established stringent maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for multiple per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. These compounds pose substantial environmental and health risks due to their bioaccumulative properties. While low concentrations can be detected quantitatively and selectively by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), this technique is cost-prohibitive, time-consuming, and not suitable for rapid and on-site measurements. Electrochemical sensors have the potential to provide a fast and portable alternative with sufficient selectivity and sensitivity for early screening of potential contaminated sources. These sensors rely on a layer of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) that are synthesized through electrochemical oxidation of monomers (e.g., o-phenylenediamine, o-PD) in the presence of targeted molecules (e.g., perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, PFOS) as the template for selective binding sites. In this study, we test the hypothesis that the physicochemical properties of the electrode surface dictate the electropolymerization of MIPs and the resulting physical morphology and sensing properties. Specifically, MIP-based sensors prepared on hydrophobic surfaces exhibit improved sensing performance toward PFOS than the ones prepared on hydrophilic surfaces. We attribute the increased sensitivity to the stronger attraction of the hydrophobic surfaces to PFOS during the electropolymerization, which leads to enhanced imprinting of the MIPs and more selective binding sites. Our results, with PFOS as a model compound, demonstrate the importance of surface functionalization to the formation, physical morphologies, and sensing properties of a promising class of materials for environmental monitoring.

Graphical abstract: Effects of surface functionalization on the electrosynthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 May 2025
Accepted
09 Jun 2025
First published
16 Jun 2025
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2025,15, 20341-20349

Effects of surface functionalization on the electrosynthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)

D. A. Bellido-Aguilar, M. Dunmyer, C. S. Malloy, M. J. Danley, V. Karanikola and S. Savagatrup, RSC Adv., 2025, 15, 20341 DOI: 10.1039/D5RA03253A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements