Apparatus and methods for the qualitative and quantitative detection of amphiphiles
AssigneeEzraterra, LLC
InventorPatrick Richard Brady
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, apparatus, and kits for detecting and optionally quantifying amphiphilic compounds in the environment, in media samples, and on objects by determining an initial surface energy of a surface of a sample substrate, exposing the sample substrate surface to a medium that contains or is suspected to contain an amphiphilic compound for a time sufficient for the amphiphilic compound to interact with the sample substrate surface, determining a post-exposure surface energy of the surface of the sample substrate, determining a change in the surface energy of the sample substrate surface, and correlating the determined change in surface energy of the sample substrate surface with a presence and/or character of amphiphilic compounds in the medium.
Claims13
A method of analyzing a sample medium, comprising:
- determining an initial surface energy of a surface of a sample substrate by measuring a contact angle of at least one liquid droplet on the surface of the sample substrate;
- exposing the sample substrate surface to a medium that contains or is suspected to contain an amphiphilic compound for a time sufficient for the amphiphilic compound to interact with the sample substrate surface;
- determining a post-exposure surface energy of the surface of the sample substrate by measuring the contact angle of at least one liquid droplet on the surface of the sample substrate;
- determining a change in surface energy of the sample substrate surface by comparing the determined initial surface energy to the determined post-exposure surface energy;
- and
- correlating a determined decrease in surface energy of the sample substrate surface with a presence of amphiphilic compounds in the medium.
A method of environmental mapping of PFAS contaminants, comprising:
- collecting a plurality of environmental samples, each environmental sample being associated with a location where it was collected, and for each environmental sample:
- determining an initial surface energy of a surface of a sample substrate by measuring a contact angle of at least one liquid droplet on the surface of the sample substrate;
- exposing the sample substrate surface to the environmental sample for a time sufficient for any amphiphilic compounds in the environmental sample to interact with the sample substrate surface;
- determining a post-exposure surface energy of the surface of the sample substrate by measuring the contact angle of at least one liquid droplet on the surface of the sample substrate;
- determining a change in surface energy of the sample substrate surface by comparing the determined initial surface energy to the determined postexposure surface energy;
- correlating a determined decrease in surface energy of the sample substrate surface with a presence of amphiphilic compounds in the environmental sample;
- and
- correlating the presence of amphiphilic compounds in each of the plurality of environmental samples with the location where that environmental sample was collected to map a presence of the amphiphilic compounds in those locations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.