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

非技术描述来自两个州(密歇根州、亚利桑那州)的六个机构的十名研究人员将合作开发先进的基于聚合物的选择性传感技术，用于检测和分析墨西哥湾沿岸水生生态系统中的污染物，这些水生生态系统是该地区和国家水-能源-食品的关键纽带，拥有重要的渔业、水产养殖、贸易港口和离岸石油勘探和生产行业。这项工作结合了化学、生物化学、地球化学、海洋科学、计算科学、聚合物科学和工程学的方法，开发便携式、可快速部署的基于聚合物的检测污染物的传感技术。专业发展和教育努力，包括提案撰写研讨会、种子资金机会和团队管理战略，将支持和促进初级教师。该项目包括本科生和高中生的暑期研究项目，以扩大参与范围。该项目将设计新的传感技术，用于在海洋环境中检测污染物(二氧化碳、硝酸盐、磷酸盐和多环芳烃(PAHs))。将设计和评估针对二氧化碳、硝酸盐、磷酸盐和多环芳烃(PAHs)的新型模块化受体-分析物相互作用，这些作用能够专门将分析物结合事件转换为可用的信号。计算和实验方法将结合起来，以了解在复杂的水环境中控制所设计系统分析物-受体相互作用的强度和稳定性的分子参数。有希望的受体将被纳入到聚合物系统中，在那里将研究聚合物结构对传感器灵敏度的影响，并用于开发预测模型。选定的受体将被集成到原型有机场效应晶体管(OFET)设备和比色检测技术中。

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.