ENVR 188 |
| In recent years, the topic of heavy metal pollution in air-water-soil-plant systems has received the attention of many scientists due to the toxic nature and adverse biological and ecological effects of heavy metals. Their environmental concentrations have increased significantly in the last fifty years through anthropogenic activities. Typical environmental sampling methods for these contaminants are accomplished by invasively collecting samples in the field and transporting them to centralized laboratories for analyses. Unfortunately, since their speciation can be changed quickly as a result of chemical, biological and physical reactions, the long time delays associated with this procedure are frequently unacceptable. Further, these sampling methods can be very costly and time consuming. Thus, one of the best preventive measures is to rapidly determine the heavy metals present, which is a crucial issue in environmental monitoring. In this study, we integrate micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technology with the anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) sensing method to measure heavy metals. Miniaturized on-chip electrochemical sensors with planar microelectrodes could receive considerable attention due to their numerous benefits such as greatly reducing the sensing cost, making the entire sensing system portable and ease of use. Therefore, the major objective of this study is to develop and characterize a miniaturized heavy metal sensor with an on-chip planar bismuth (Bi) electrode and microfluidic channels by using standard MEMS fabrication technology that can lead to a portable instrument. In addition, the sensors we made were adapted for analysis of heavy metals in the permeable mulch wall system operated in our lab. |
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Recent Developments in Sensors and Sensor Networks for Contaminants in Environmental Systems
6:00 PM-8:00 PM, Wednesday, August 22, 2007 BCEC -- Exhibit Hall - B2, Poster
Sci-Mix
Division of Environmental Chemistry |