Heroma VV Sensor, Water Toxicity Sensor Challenge

Life revolves around water, so a strict control on its quality is vital to guarantee human health and protection of biodiversity. However, nowadays, industrialization accelerated by human population growth and people's lack of information about possible environmental problems end up polluting water bodies with biological and artificial pollutants. Including, the presence of heavy metals in drinking water can have serious repercussions on health such as intestinal and kidneys diseases, accompanied even by severe brain damage. Therefore, this work aims to develop a biosensor that is at the service of detecting two harmful heavy metals, mercury, and lead. Among biosensors, the amperometric enzymatic biosensor was selected due to the advantages they offer over others, for instance, simplicity, short time responses and miniaturization potential are some of these features. At same time, an innovative design will allow to detect heavy metals in an easy and cost-effective way without neglecting the ease of transport and handling with a series of simple instructions that allow access not only to scientists but also to standard or unskilled users. The acting principle includes the analysis of urease enzyme behavior in the presence of specific heavy metals since it is inhibited at -0.03 V to 0.0 V reaching the formulation of calibration curves that show the concentration of an analyte by considering the variation in the current flow. The sensor has maximum dimensions of 76.2 mm long, 39.54 mm high and 62 mm wide with an approximate weight of 218 grams. The initial cost per measured sample is estimated to be approximately 12 USD.