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

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是为环境保护节省的医疗成本的潜在美元。最大的总节省不能只用美元来衡量，而是在帮助保护人类生命和结束因水问题而引起的疾病方面。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益处。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)和实验室使用的高端测试设备(如质谱仪)，前者可提供有关分析物的定性信息，后者可提供准确的定量信息。如果成功，传感器技术将通过为分析物的定量测量提供低成本、灵敏、准确的工具来弥合差距。这款便携式、低成本、即插即用的传感器产品将迎合水质监测市场的需求。该产品还将动员公民科学家？参与环境数据收集和普及可持续发展教育。这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目预计将导致开发一种能够实时测量水和土壤样品中硝酸盐和磷酸盐的多路复用、低成本、便携式仪器。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以及微流体中包含的试剂，以执行实时检测，而无需样品制备。由于溶液中的磷酸盐浓度通常很小，而且水样中的无机磷酸盐由于生物过程而发生变化，时间往往是测量磷酸盐的关键因素。由于这些因素，需要灵敏、廉价和便携的仪器来有效地监测富营养化过程。目前在野外进行磷酸盐测量的现有仪器不能充分满足这些需求。一期开发表明，集成微流控技术的一次性电极和智能手机APP控制的传感器能够检测出高灵敏度和高特异性的硝酸盐。第二阶段的建议重点是将硝酸盐传感器商业化，并开发多路传感器平台，以检测更大的商业市场中的硝酸盐和磷酸盐等多种离子。

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.