SBIR Phase II: Multiplexed Smartphone-Based Handheld Sensor for Ion Contaminants Detection in Environmental Water

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在环境保护方面节省的医疗保健成本。最大的总体节约不能只以美元来衡量，而是要帮助保护人类生命和结束由水问题引起的疾病。该产品将为人们提供独特的机会，在没有良好水处理设施的地方测试他们的水的安全和健康效益。水测试设备市场分为低端，低成本的现场测试设备（如硝酸盐试纸），提供有关分析物的定性信息，以及实验室中使用的高端测试设备（如质谱仪），提供准确的定量信息。如果成功，传感器技术将通过提供低成本、灵敏、准确的分析物定量测量工具来弥合差距。便携式、低成本、即插即用的传感器产品将满足水质监测市场的需求。产品还会动吗？公民科学家？参与环境数据收集和普及可持续性教育。这一小企业创新研究（SBIR）第2阶段项目预计将导致开发一种多路复用、低成本、便携式仪器，能够对水和土壤样品中的硝酸盐和磷酸盐进行真实的实时测量。该仪器的传感器系统将基于高度选择性的硝酸盐和磷酸盐还原工作电极，沿着微流体中包含的试剂，以执行实时感测而无需样品制备。由于溶液中磷酸盐的浓度通常很小，并且由于水样中的无机磷酸盐由于生物过程而发生变化，因此时间通常是测量磷酸盐的关键因素。由于这些因素，有一个敏感的，廉价的，便携式仪器的需求，以有效地监测富营养化过程。目前可用于在实地进行磷酸盐测量的仪器不能充分满足这些需求。第一阶段的开发表明，具有微流体集成的一次性电极和智能手机应用程序控制的传感器能够以高灵敏度和特异性检测硝酸盐。第二阶段的提案集中在硝酸盐传感器的商业化和多路复用传感器平台的开发，以检测多种离子，如硝酸盐和磷酸盐，用于更大的商业市场。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the potential dollars saved in healthcare costs to environmental protection. The greatest overall savings cannot be judged only in dollars, but in helping to preserve human lives and end diseases and illnesses caused by problems with water. The product will provide unique opportunity to populations to test their water for safety and health benefits, in locations where good water treatment facilities do not exist. The water testing equipment market is divided into low-end, low-cost on-field test equipment (such as nitrate strip) that gives qualitative information about the analytes, and high-end testing devices used in labs (such as mass spectrometer) providing accurate quantitative information. If successful, the sensor technology will bridge the gap by providing low-cost, sensitive, accurate tools for quantitative measurement of analytes. The portable, low-cost, plug and play sensor product will cater to the needs of the water quality monitoring market. The product will also mobilize ?citizen scientist? to partake in environmental data collection and popularize sustainability education.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 project is expected to lead to the development of a multiplexed, low-cost, portable instrument capable of making real time measurements of nitrate and phosphate in water and soil samples. The sensor system for this instrument will be based on the highly selective nitrate and phosphate reducing working electrodes along with reagents contained in the microfluidics to perform real-time sensing without sample preparation. As the concentrations of phosphate in solution are usually small, and since the inorganic phosphate in a water sample is changing due to biological processes, time is often a critical factor in taking measurements of phosphate. Due to these factors, there is a need for sensitive, inexpensive, and portable instruments in order to monitor the eutrophication process effectively. Currently available instruments for making phosphate measurements in the field do not adequately address these needs. Phase I development showed that disposable electrode with microfluidic integration, and smartphone app controlled sensor is capable of detecting nitrate with high sensitivity and specificity. Phase II proposal is focused on commercialization of the nitrate sensor and development of multiplexed sensor platform to detect multiple ions such as nitrate, and phosphate for larger commercial market.