Market Assessment for Next-Generation Hydrological Sensor Technology

淡水是全球生物圈必不可少的自然资源，对一个国家公民的福祉同样重要。确保人人享有清洁用水是联合国2015年通过的17个可持续发展目标之一。加拿大受益于淡水资源的异常丰富，加拿大河流排放的淡水占世界淡水总量的9%以上。详细而准确的水文数据对于所有利益相关者做出保护淡水和依赖淡水的人的最佳决策至关重要。尽管其重要性已得到公认，但由于水文监测的成本限制了以精细地理分辨率进行连续监测的可能性，因此在空间和时间上对水质的测量不足。通过增加离子传感工具的可及性，可以克服水质监测中的缺陷。这项工作的核心目标是对Szkopek教授实验室开发的石墨烯离子敏感场效应晶体管（ISFET）技术是否可以填补水质监测技术的重要空白进行市场评估。该项目是与麦吉尔大学工程学院的Szkopek教授和Yargeau教授的合作，汇集了先进电子材料和设备的专业知识，沿着控制水中污染物的专业知识。迄今为止，在受控实验室环境中的实验工作表明，石墨烯ISFET具有有前途的特性。市场评估是确定该技术商业可行性的重要的第一步。

Fresh water is a natural resource essential to the global biosphere, and no less important to the well being of a nation's citizens. Ensuring access to clean water for all is one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. Canada benefits from an unusually enviable wealth in fresh water, with Canadian rivers discharging over 9% of the world's fresh water. Detailed and accurate hydrological data is essential for all stakeholders to take optimal decisions that safeguard fresh water and those dependent upon it. Despite it's recognized importance, water quality is insufficiently measured in space and time due to the cost of hydrological monitoring that limits the possibilities of continuous monitoring at fine geographical resolution. Deficiencies in water quality monitoring can be overcome by increasing the accessibility of ion sensing tools. The core objective of this work is to conduct a market assessment as to whether the graphene ion-sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET) technology developed in Prof. Szkopek's laboratory can fill an important void in water quality monitoring technology. This project is a partnership with Prof. Szkopek and Prof. Yargeau in the Faculty of Engineering at McGill University, bringing together expertise in advanced electronic materials and devices along with expertise in control of contaminants of concern in water. Experimental work to date in a controlled laboratory environment suggests that the graphene ISFET has promising characteristics. A market assessment is an important first step for establishing the commercial viability of the technology.