Lead pollution in rivers can be measured in minutes using a proof-of-concept sensor from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

RutgersU-Pb-detector

It is designed to work directly with sediment – in which Pb pollution tends to gather, and which gets disturbed during activities such as dredging.

One of the time consuming parts of sensing in water with sediment is pre-treating the sample before measurement, according to the university.

In this case, the team has designed a 3d porous matrix adjacent to the sensor which prepares the sample – although there is mention of ‘minimal pre-treatment agents’ in a paper which described the sensor in the IEEE Sensors Journal

Detection, of Pb+2 ions in this case, is on a graphene oxide film. The detection limit is 4ppb.

“Detecting toxic metals like lead, mercury and copper normally requires collecting samples and sending them to a lab for analysis, with results returned in days,” said researcher Mehdi Javanmard. “Our goal was to by-pass this process and build a sensitive, inexpensive device that can easily be carried around and analyse samples on-site within minutes to identify hot spots of contamination. Someday you could go to a sushi bar and check whether the fish you ordered has lead or mercury in it.”