Arinze Ejiofor
MIT Department: Chemistry
Faculty Mentor: : Prof. Tim Swager
Research Supervisors: Collette Gordon, Jesús Castro Esteban
Undergraduate Institution: Morehouse College
Hometown: Silver Spring, Maryland
Website: LinkedIn
Biography
Arinze Ejiofor is a sophomore at Morehouse College. Originally born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, Arinze is the son of two Nigerian parents, both hailing from the Igbo tribe. Due to his Nigerian upbringing, he grew to understand the importance of putting one’s best foot forward no matter the situation. Arinze is a Dr. Michael L. Lomax Student Success Scholar at Morehouse College and had the amazing opportunity to research in the Swager Lab under Professor Timothy Swager at MIT during the Summer of 2024. He currently sits as the 2nd Attendant to Mr. ASA of the Atlanta University Center’s African Student Association. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball with friends, going to the gym, cooking new dishes, and reading his bible. Due to his extremely well-rounded nature, Arinze could be considered a natural first choice for any position that includes collaborating with a team towards a shared goal, and even leading said team.
Abstract
Employing LCST and Conductive Polymers for Selective PFAS Capture
and Detection
Arinze C. Ejiofor1, Chasnee B. Tinnin, Collette T. Gordon2, Jesús C. Esteban2,
Timothy M. Swager2
1Department of Chemistry, Morehouse College
2Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Perfluoroalkyl/Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), have been dubbed as “forever chemicals” due to their extraordinary stability. Despite their harmful nature as a possible carcinogen and immune system weakener, they remain prevalent in sources such as PFAS-contaminated water, produce, poultry, waterproof products. For the selective capture of PFAS , Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST) Polymers are a type of organic polymer that undergo precipitation upon a rise of temperature in solution, and can capture unwanted substances like PFAS in solution upon precipitation. When the polymer’s hydrophobicity is higher than its hydrophilicity, the LCST temperature of the polymers has been shown to be low enough to capture PFAS in contaminated solution when the polymers undergo a rise in temperature. Current goals include altering the equivalence of the hydrophobic vs. hydrophilic groups to favor the hydrophobic groups to lower the LCST temperature to a level where it is commercially viable enough to be replicated at low cost and low energy usage. For the detection of PFAS, conductive polymers are a type of organic polymer whose pi-conjugated backbone allows for efficient conduction of electricity. The conductive polymer that will be focused on in this research is known as Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). Upon oxidation of PEDOT’s aromatic backbone, its conductivity increases even further, and when post-functionalized with hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) groups, has potential to detect PFAS in solution . Current interests include fabricating these functionalized PEDOTs onto lateral flow assays to carry out sensing studies with a 4 point probe and measure the resistance, and therefore the PEDOT’s efficiency at sensing PFAS in our water. Currently, regular PEDOT has shown ability to conduct PFAS once sewn onto an LFA, however current goals include carrying out conductivity studies with Thiolated PEDOT. 