UK-Further development of droplet microfluidic based chemical sensors for rapid measurement of nutrients in water

英国-进一步开发基于液滴微流体的化学传感器，用于快速测量水中的营养物质

基本信息

批准号：
NE/S013458/1
负责人：
Xize Niu
金额：
$ 15.91万
依托单位：
University of Southampton
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2019 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS013458%2F1
关键词：
UK Further development droplet microfluidic

项目摘要

Traditionally chemicals in the aquatic environment (e.g. nitrate, phosphate) are measured by manual collection and laboratory analysis of discrete water samples. Microfluidic sensors offer an attractive alternative: by taking and analysing samples autonomously in the environment, they remove the need for manual sampling and allow real-time monitoring of water composition and quality.The current state-of-the-art sensors are not widespread due to a range of issues, most notably complicated fluidic control and their inefficient use of chemical reagent. This increases the size of the sensor and its power consumption, limits the frequency that measurements can be taken and duration the sensor can be deployed each time.Droplet microfluidics (in which nanolitre water samples are taken and subsequently operated on as droplets within an immiscible oil) is a novel microfluidic method that, in addition to other advantages, crucially offers higher analytical throughput and much more efficient use of consumables (reagent consumption being orders of magnitude lower). We have previously developed and demonstrated the first-ever droplet microfluidic sensor prototype for measuring nitrate and nitrite that uses drastically lower reagent consumption relative to the current state of the art. In this project we will mature the technology and demonstrate it in real-world operation in partnership with end users, including a UK public body and Chinese water company. These demonstrations will help us to refine the sensor, demonstrate its effectiveness, and ready it for commercial exploitation.

传统上，水生环境中的化学物质（例如硝酸盐、磷酸盐）是通过手动收集离散水样并进行实验室分析来测量的。微流控传感器提供了一种有吸引力的替代方案：通过在环境中自主采集和分析样本，它们无需手动采样，并可以实时监测水的成分和质量。目前最先进的传感器尚未广泛使用，因为一系列问题，最显着的是复杂的流体控制和化学试剂的低效使用。这增加了传感器的尺寸及其功耗，限制了测量的频率以及每次部署传感器的持续时间。液滴微流体（其中采集纳升水样，然后作为不混溶油中的液滴进行操作））是一种新颖的微流体方法，除了其他优点外，最重要的是提供更高的分析通量和更有效地使用耗材（试剂消耗降低几个数量级）。我们之前开发并演示了首个用于测量硝酸盐和亚硝酸盐的液滴微流体传感器原型，其试剂消耗量相对于当前现有技术水平大大降低。在这个项目中，我们将与最终用户（包括英国公共机构和中国水务公司）合作，使技术成熟并在实际操作中进行演示。这些演示将帮助我们改进传感器，展示其有效性，并为商业开发做好准备。