Low-Cost, Portable Electrochemical Sensors for Copper Detection in Particulate Matter
" Exposure to airborne particulate matter (PM) brings serious problems to human health. Trace metals in PM impact respiratory and cardiovascular systems. In addition to direct toxicity, some metals such as Cu and Fe can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the Fenton reaction that causes gene mutation. Traditional approach to detect Cu in PM necessitates huge, expensive, and complicated instrument such as ICP-MS and atomic absorption spectroscopy that hinders their availability in developing countries. Here, low-cost, portable carbon stencil-printed electrodes (CSPEs) were utilized for simple Cu analysis of PM using adsorptive anodic stripping voltammetry. 1,10-Phenanthroline was used for complexing with Cu and modifying electrode surface to improve sensitivity. 1,10-Phenanthroline modified CSPEs enhanced current signal about 5 times relative to unmodified CSPEs. The optimum 1,10-phenanthroline concentration for complexing with Cu was 0.7 mM. The proposed method requiring 50 μL sample volume obtained a detection limit of 1 μg L-1 and a working range of 1-300 μg L-1 for Cu. The low-cost, portable electrochemical sensors were applied for Cu detection in airborne PM collected from Navajo, USA using an ultrasonic personal air sampler. The results were validated with ICP-MS and showed no statistically different with 95% confidence between two methods. "
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