Chemistry Team’s Nano Electrochemical Sensors Detect Heavy Metal Ions In The IRL

Scientists on a team led by Pavithra Pathirathna have fabricated a novel, fast, robust, nano electrochemical sensor to quantify heavy metal pollutants in complicated matrices.

Their findings are published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal RSC Advances. The authors showcased the power of their sensor as a potential environmental monitoring tool by quantifying free cadmium (II) ions in a water sample collected from the Indian River Lagoon.

“Heavy metal contamination and its detrimental health effects are a growing concern globally,” the authors wrote. “Several metal mitigation systems and regulatory approaches have been implemented to minimize the negative impacts on human health. However, none of these function at maximum efficiency, mainly due to the lack of accurate information about metal speciation. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop novel, cheap, efficient, and robust metal detecting sensors.”

In addition to Pathirathna, the authors were Muzammil M. N. Ahmed,  Faieza S. Bodowara, Wendy Zhou, Juliana F. Penteado and Jessica L. Smeltz, all from the department of biomedical and chemical engineering and sciences.