State-of-the-art lab chip sensors for environmental water monitoring

As a result of increased water demand and water pollution, both surface water and groundwater quantity and quality are of major concern worldwide. In particular, the presence of nutrients and heavy metals in water is a serious threat to human health. The initial step for the effective management of surface waters and groundwater requires regular, continuous monitoring of water quality in terms of contaminant distribution and source identification. Because of this, there is a need for screening and monitoring measurements of these compounds at contaminated areas. However, traditional monitoring techniques are typically still based on laboratory analyses of representative field-collected samples; this necessitates considerable effort and expense, and the sample may change before analysis. Furthermore, currently available equipment is so large that it cannot usually be made portable. Alternatively, lab chip and electrochemical sensing-based portable monitoring systems appear well suited to complement standard analytical methods for a number of environmental monitoring applications. In addition, this type of portable system could save tremendous amounts of time, reagent, and sample if it is installed at contaminated sites such as Superfund sites (the USA's worst toxic waste sites) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) facilities or in rivers and lakes. Accordingly, state-of-the-art monitoring equipment is necessary for accurate assessments of water quality. This article reviews details on our development of these lab-on-a-chip (LOC) sensors.