In order to sustain surface and marine water quality as advocated by international directives, there is a growing need for sensors that can enable accurate and rapid in-situ quantification of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). NEMO aims to develop new generation Lab-on Chip (LoC) miniaturized sensor platforms for the rapid and quantitative determination of POPs in marine waters. POPs including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and perfluorocarbon compounds (PFCs) are targeted as well as emerging contaminants such as UV organic filters. The project relies on a recognition phase based on electrochemical molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Electrochemistry is the detection technique of choice for the NEMO project due to its simplicity and robustness. MIP based sensors will be incorporated into glass-based LoC devices. Sampling handling will be tailored in this programme to deliver deployable sensing platforms whereby in-situ sensor measurements will directly indicate specific organic pollutant concentrations. NEMO’s reliability will be demonstrated in the marine environment. The overarching aim is to develop electrochemistry-based LoC systems that will underpin subsequent developments for commercial, automated and portable sensing platforms for marine deployment that are highly sensitive, robust, and reusable in order to facilitate in-situ monitoring of POPs overwide geographical and temporal scales.
Nemo is funded by the MarTERA partners French National Research Agency (ANR) an Irish Marine Institute (MI).
Coordinator
Dr Catherine Branger, University of Toulon, France
Consortium
University of Toulon, University, France
Dublin City University, University, Ireland
KLEARIA, SME, France