Advanced Sensing Layer for the Selective Detection of Organic Contaminants in Water

对水质的有效监测和控制对加拿大的许多行业至关重要，包括饮用水、废水、农业、水产养殖、沿海行业以及公共部门。在这些行业中，对水质的实时、频繁监测的需求尚未得到满足。该项目将通过将智能手机转换为可以检测水中污染物的水质监测设备来满足这一需求。这对加拿大的公众和几个主要行业都特别重要。拟议的国际合作的目标是开发传感材料，这些材料将被安装在具有成本效益的传感器中，用于监测水质。该传感器将是一种小型光电设备，可以很容易地安装在智能手机上，就像手机的附加镜头一样。它将包含一组传感节点，其中包括一种传感材料，每种材料对特定的化学污染物都是敏感和选择性的。当传感层与水接触时，来自传感材料的各种图像信号将被软件识别，指示化学污染物的存在和数量。拟议的国际合作的预期结果是改进传感器中使用的传感材料，以极大地提高传感器的准确性/选择性，并将其应用于监测各种水质的水。我们的合作者巴德亚尔教授因其在固体表面功能化和功能纳米层沉积方面的开创性研究而享誉国际。贝德亚尔博士发明了一系列用于技术和社会应用的新型表面。该项目将培训一名HQP，通过这一合作，他将向领先的科学家学习。我们的目标是为我们的HQP提供一个高度跨学科的培训环境，因为他们在加拿大的UBC工程实验室和英国的Durham科学实验室工作。

Effective monitoring and control of water quality are critical for many Canadian industries, including the drinking water, wastewater, agriculture, aquaculture, and coastal industries as well as the public sector. There is an unmet demand for real-time frequent monitoring of water quality in these industries. This project will meet this demand by converting smartphones into water monitoring devices that can detect pollutants in water. This is of particular importance to both the public and several key industries in Canada.The objective of the proposed international collaboration is to develop sensing materials that will be incorporated in a cost-effective sensor for monitoring water quality. The sensor will be a small optoelectronic device that can easily be installed on a smartphone much like a cellphone add-on lens. It will contain an array of sensing nodes comprising a sensing material, each sensitive and selective to a specific chemical contaminant. Upon contact of the sensing layer with the water, various image signals from the sensing material will be created, which will be recognized by software, indicating the presence and quantity of chemical contaminants. The expected outcome of the proposed international collaboration is to advance the sensing material that is used in the sensor to greatly enhance the sensor accuracy/selectivity and to expand its application to monitoring water of various qualities. Our collaborator, Prof. Badyal, is internationally recognized for his pioneering research on the functionalization of solid surfaces and the deposition of functional nanolayers. Dr. Badyal has invented a wide range of novel surfaces for technological and societal applications. This project will train a HQP, who, through this collaboration, will learn from leading scientists. We aim for a highly interdisciplinary training environment for our HQP, as they work in both the UBC engineering labs in Canada and Durham science labs in the UK.