Graphene-based Nanosensor Device for Rapid, Onsite Detection of Total Lead in Tap Water

项目摘要 铅的有害健康影响主要归因于长期暴露于未检测到的铅， 特别麻烦和问题，因为对儿童的神经损伤，这种情况应该 不能被像美国这样的先进社会所容忍。弗林特水危机和许多其他水灾难 如果能够通过及时检测饮用水中的铅含量来发出预警， 在使用点。我们广泛的客户访谈明确表明，目前的选择铅 对于现场检测来说，这些检测是不能令人满意的，因为它们代表了两个极端：一个是准确的， 一种是昂贵、缓慢且难以使用;另一种是低成本、快速且易于使用但不准确。 NanoAffix Science LLC（NAFX）建议解决上述未满足的需求和利基市场产品差距 通过增强用水者（特别是经济弱势社区的用水者）和供水服务的能力， 为供应商提供低成本、易于使用且准确的手持式测试仪，用于快速检测水龙头中的总铅含量 水，直接从厨房的水槽里拿手持式铅测试仪结合了一种新颖的专有微型传感器， 芯片嵌入专有的测试单元中，带有便携式数字仪表，可直接读取测试结果。的 第一阶段的项目已成功地建立了检测自来水中可溶性铅的可行性， 原型手持式测试仪的早期版本。二期项目将继续开发手持 测试仪朝着总铅检测、更好的器件均匀性、中试规模生产和精确校准的方向发展。 在第二阶段项目结束时，NAFX计划生产20台手持式铅测试仪， 由10个初始客户进行现场验证的性能规范（例如，学校/日托所，最终用水者， 和井水钻孔机）。该方法的主要创新包括对颗粒物的准确预测 铅通过部分消化的基础上铅消化动力学，和战略和协同改善 最终的传感器预测精度通过（1）提高物理传感器器件均匀性（晶片内和 通过创新的器件配置和严格的质量控制， 通过创新的理论平衡化学建模和机器学习数据分析来提高准确性。 NAFX手持式铅测试仪是同类产品中的第一款，（1）提供客户所寻求的所有三个功能：准确， 廉价和快速;和（2）同时报告所有三种类型的铅：总铅（指示总体毒性）， 可溶性铅（指示铅的缓慢浸出）和颗粒状铅（指示铅的零星剥落）， 这样不仅可以提醒消费者注意饮用水中的铅危害， 确定可能的原因和最有效的解决方案，以减轻铅污染。因此项目 不仅会产生巨大的经济影响，还会产生巨大的社会影响。经常使用NAFX 手持测试仪-即使是间歇性的-实际上会消除长期暴露于未检测到的铅的机会， 从而产生重大和可预测的公共卫生影响，特别是在风险最高的地区。

PROJECT SUMMARY Detrimental health impacts of lead are largely attributed to long-term exposures to undetected lead, which are particularly troublesome and problematic because of the neurological damage to children, a situation that should not be tolerated by an advanced society like the U.S. The Flint Water Crisis and many other water catastrophes could have been avoided if early warning can be made possible through timely detection of lead in drinking water at the point of use. Our extensive customer interviews unambiguously suggest that current options for lead detection are unsatisfactory for on-site testing, as they represent two extremes: one being accurate but expensive, slow, and hard to use; and the other being low-cost, fast, and easy to use but inaccurate. NanoAffix Science LLC (NAFX) proposes to address the above unmet need and niche market product gap by empowering water users (particularly those in economically disadvantaged communities) and water service providers with a low-cost, easy-to-use, and accurate handheld tester for rapid detection of total lead in the tap water, right from the kitchen sink. The handheld lead tester combines a novel proprietary micro-sized sensor chip embedded in a proprietary test cell with a portable digital meter for direct readout of testing results. The Phase I project has successfully established the feasibility for detection of soluble lead in the tap water using an earlier version of the prototype handheld tester. The Phase II project will continue to develop the handheld tester toward total lead detection, better device uniformity, pilot scale-up manufacturing, and accurate calibration. At the end of the Phase II project, NAFX plans to produce 20 beta units of the handheld lead tester meeting all performance specifications for field validation by 10 initial customers (e.g., schools/daycares, end water users, and well water drillers). Major innovations of the proposed approach include accurate prediction of the particulate lead through partial digestion based on lead digestion kinetics, and strategic and synergistic improvement of the ultimate sensor prediction accuracy by (1) improving the physical sensor device uniformity (both intra-wafer and inter-wafer) through innovative device configuration and rigorous quality control; and (2) improving the calibration accuracy through innovative theoretical equilibrium chemistry modeling and machine learning data analytics. The NAFX handheld lead tester is the first of its kind to (1) offer all three features sought by customers: accurate, cheap, and fast; and (2) to simultaneously report all three types of lead: total lead (indicative of overall toxicity), soluble lead (indicative of slow leaching of lead), and particulate lead (indicative of sporadic flaking of lead), which thus can not only alert customers to the lead hazard in their drinking water but also enable customers to identify possible causes and most effective solutions to mitigate the lead contamination. Therefore, the project will result in not only considerable economic impact but also immense societal impact. The regular use of NAFX handheld tester - even if intermittently - will virtually eliminate the chance of chronic exposure to undetected lead, thereby accruing significant and predictable public health impact, especially in locations with the highest risk.