RII Track-2 FEC: Emergent Polymer Sensing Technologies for Gulf Coast Water Quality Monitoring

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Non-technical DescriptionTen researchers across six institutions in two states (MS, AL) will collaborate to develop advanced polymer-based, selective sensing technologies for detecting and analyzing pollutants in Gulf Coast aquatic ecosystems which represent a critical nexus of water-energy-food for the region and the nation, hosting important fisheries, aquaculture, trading ports, and off-shore oil exploration and production industries. The effort combines approaches from chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry, marine science, computational science, polymer science, and engineering to develop portable, rapidly deployable polymer-based sensing technologies for detection of pollutants. Professional development and education efforts, including proposal writing workshops, seed funding opportunities, and team management strategies, will support and promote junior faculty. The project includes summer research programs for undergraduate and high school students to broadening participation.Technical DescriptionThis project will design new sensing technologies for deployment in the marine environment to detect pollutants (CO2, nitrates, phosphates, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)). New modular receptor-analyte interactions for CO2, nitrates, phosphates, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) capable of specifically transducing an analyte-binding event into a useable signal will be designed and evaluated. Computational and experimental approaches will be combined to gain understanding of the molecular parameters controlling the strength and stability of analyte-receptor interactions of designed systems in complex aqueous environments. Promising receptors will be incorporated into polymeric systems, where the influence of polymer structure on sensitivity of the sensors will be studied and used to develop predictive models. Selected receptors will be integrated into prototype organic field effect transistor (OFET) devices and colorimetric detection technologies.