A miniature sensor integrating multiple detection technologies for evaluating water pollution

发达国家和发展中国家都迫切需要一个便携式系统来监测水质。目前，没有商业测试可以满足这一需求，因为只有经过认证的实验室才能进行此类评估。传统的物化技术，如色谱法，必须由合格的技术人员来操作，并且需要大型、笨重和昂贵的设备。此外，分析仪器的小型化是化学和生物科学的主要趋势之一。诊断设备的小型化不仅提供了便携性和显着降低成本，而且在速度，分析效率，自动化和可重复性方面也获得了性能提升。通过小型化，微流控技术可以成功地将所有相关步骤集成到单个设备上。

There exists an urgent and great need for a portable system to monitor water quality in both developed and developing countries. Currently, there is no commercial test available to satisfy this demand, as only accredited laboratories can perform such evaluations. Conventional physicochemical techniques like chromatography must be performed by qualified technicians, and require large, bulky and expensive equipment. Moreover, miniaturisation of analytical instrumentation is one of dominant trends within the chemical and biological sciences. Miniaturization of diagnostic devices not only affords portability and significant cost reductions but also performance gains in terms of speed, analytical efficiency, automation and reproducibility. Through miniaturization, microfluidic technologies may allow successful integration of all the relevant steps on a single device.