SBIR Phase I: A low-cost real-time bio-electrochemical nitrate sensor for surface water monitoring

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将展示一种基于生物电化学系统的革命性、低成本、实时、安培传感器技术的可行性。拟议的设备利用外源电生微生物来检测目标物质的水平，主要是硝酸盐和氧气。该传感器利用高度特定的生物过程和某些微生物将电流直接传递到电极的能力。由于该设计的本质，该传感器成本低，不需要额外的功率，并且不断地自我再生。这些能力将使传感器能够部署在偏远地区，以监测跨越大片地理区域的网络中的硝酸盐和氧气水平。这项研究的更广泛/商业影响是在环境管理、农业和国防部门。在过去的半个世纪里，美国水道中的硝酸盐水平急剧上升。从农业活动中流失的地表水中的硝酸盐是一个特别严重的环境问题，造成大量缺氧死区，并使渔业紧张。追踪这种污染物很困难，因为现有的传感器非常昂贵或寿命很短，而且不能覆盖广泛的区域。在可持续的精准农业中保持优化的硝酸盐水平不仅可以减少对环境的影响，而且也是一个关键的经济问题--监测农田径流中的硝酸盐有助于最大限度地提高产量，同时最大限度地减少昂贵的化肥投入。最后，一旦被证明适用于硝酸盐，获得专利的传感器概念有可能通过利用外生电生细菌的额外能力而适用于其他物质，从而产生一种基于生物电化学现象的新型安培传感器。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of a revolutionary, low-cost, real-time, amperometric sensor technology based on bio-electrochemical systems. The proposed device utilizes exo-electrogen microbes to detect levels of target substances, primarily nitrate and oxygen. The sensor takes advantage of highly specific biological processes and the capability of certain microbes to transfer electrical current directly to electrodes. Because of the nature of the design, the sensor is low cost, requires no additional power, and continuously self-regenerates. These capabilities will enable sensors to be deployed in remote locations to monitor nitrate and oxygen levels in a network spanning large geographical regions. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are in the environmental management, agricultural, and defense sectors. Nitrate levels in US waterways have increased dramatically in the past half-century. Nitrate in surface water run-off from agriculture activities is a particularly serious environmental problem, creating large anoxic dead zones and straining fisheries. Tracing this pollutant is difficult because existing sensors are very expensive or short-lived and cannot cover wide areas. Maintaining optimized levels of nitrate in sustainable precision agriculture not only reduces environmental impact, it is also a critical economic issue - nitrate monitoring in run-off from cropland can help to maximize yields while minimizing expensive fertilizer inputs. Finally, once proven for nitrates, the patented sensor concept has the potential to be adapted to other substances by utilizing additional capabilities of exo-electrogenic bacteria, thus producing a new class of amperometric sensors based on bio-electrochemical phenomena.