GOALI: INFEWS N/P/H2O: Real-Time and Low-Cost Monitoring of Orthophosphate Ions Using Novel Graphene-Based Transistor Sensors

1606057陈磷是动植物生长所必需的宏观营养物质之一。在磷是限制生长的养分的情况下，例如在一些天然地表水中，排放未经处理或处理过的废水、农业排水或某些工业废物可能会大量刺激光合作用的水生微生物和大型生物的生长。该项目致力于开发一种低成本、超灵敏和实时的水分传感器，用于连续监测农业径流、废水和地表水中的磷酸盐。为含磷物种的实时应用和监测提供可现场部署的、廉价的、在环境和能源上可持续的传感器的能力，同时减少这些物种在废物或径流中的数量，将有利于粮食生产，有利于水质，并显著减少能源消耗。该项目得益于PI实验室的传感平台的重大创新。这种优异的传感性能可直接用于水中磷酸盐的低浓度实时监测，以及通过目标离子与氧化石墨烯还原表面上的化学探针之间的耦合来区分磷酸盐的新的、可靠的方法。这项拟议的研究具有变革性，因为新的传感平台结合了还原氧化石墨烯的杰出特性(例如，低成本、大比表面积和高电子灵敏度)和可靠的探针固定在还原氧化石墨烯表面。根据初步结果，该新型磷酸根离子传感器的检测时间为秒量级，检测下限为0.01 mg/L，因此，与现有方法相比，该高灵敏度平台提供了一种更简单、更快速的磷酸盐检测方法，并显著降低了成本。将进行实验，以优化传感器在灵敏度方面的技术性能，同时将在水系统中进行长期部署。该项目的预期成果包括：(1)实时和超灵敏传感器的原型，以持续监测各种水系统中的磷酸盐；(2)传感器在农业径流、废水和地表水系统中的现场部署和验证数据；(3)为学生和教职员工举办的创业培训课程/活动，以及为学生提供的实习机会。密尔沃基全球水中心将创建一个传感器创新平台，帮助学生了解创新和技术转移过程。拟议的教育计划的特点是积极努力改善创业工程教育；吸引代表性不足的学生进入STEM领域；广泛整合研究和教育；以及广泛传播水传感器研究和教育成果。

1606057ChenPhosphorus is one of the macro nutrients necessary for the growth of plants and animals. In instances where phosphorus is a growth-limiting nutrient, for example in some natural surface waters, the discharge of raw or treated wastewater, agricultural drainage, or certain industrial wastes may stimulate the growth of photosynthetic aquatic micro- and macro-organisms in large quantities. This project focuses on developing a low-cost, ultrasensitive, and real-time water sensor for continuous monitoring of phosphate in agriculture runoff, wastewater, and surface water. The ability to provide field-deployable, inexpensive, and environmentally- and energetically-sustainable sensors for real-time application and monitoring of phosphorus-containing species while reducing the amount of these species in waste or run-off streams would benefit food production, benefit water quality, and result in significantly less energy consumption. This project benefits from major innovations in a sensing platform in the PI's laboratory. The superior sensing performance could be directly used for low-concentration and real-time monitoring of phosphates in water and the new and reliable method to differentiate phosphates through coupling between target ions and chemical probes functionalized on the reduced graphene oxide surfaces. The proposed research is transformative since the new sensing platform combines the outstanding properties of reduced graphene oxide (e.g., low cost, large specific surface area, and high electronic sensitivity) with reliable probe immobilization on the reduced graphene oxide surface. Based on preliminary results, the novel phosphate ion sensor had a detection time on the order of seconds and a lower detection limit of 0.01 mg/L. Therefore, this high sensitivity platform offers a simpler and faster route to detecting phosphates, as well as significantly lower cost, as compared with existing methods. Experiments will be carried out to optimize the technical performance of the sensor in terms of sensitivity, while a long-term deployment in a water system will be conducted. Expected outcomes of the project include: (1) prototypes of real-time and ultrasensitive sensors to continuously monitor phosphate in various water systems; (2) field deployment and validation data of the sensors in agriculture runoff, wastewater, and surface water systems; and, (3) entrepreneurship training courses/activities for students and faculty and internship opportunities for students. A sensor innovation platform will be created in Milwaukee's Global Water Center to help students learn about the innovation and technology transfer process. The proposed education plan features proactive efforts to improve entrepreneurial engineering education; to attract underrepresented students into STEM fields; extensive integration of research and education; and, broad dissemination of water sensor research and educational findings.