Developing a Sensor to Detect Nutrients in Water

The purpose of this research project is to develop a new sensor for detecting nutrients in water, such as nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, ammonium, and silicate and to realize the automated real-time nutrients monitoring in remote water areas, by integrating this to-be-developed sensor into a machine. The sensor would be a capillary microfluidic paper based device. Before the water sample is detected by using the sensor, the water would go through a functionalized nylon filter to remove oil contaminant, in case the oil interferes with the nutrient detection. Note, the initial development of the nylon filter was partially funded by an NSERC Engage Grant. The sensor for this project is developed under the projects titled Sensor and Sensing Systems for Water Quality Monitoring and Transformative technologies for Canadian water futures: big data platform and smart watersheds. These two projects under the Global Water Futures Program funded by Canada First Research Excellence Fund.