Metal nanoparticle carbon nanocomposites to produce electrochemical devices for environmental water monitoring

Wenchao Duan, from the Nanoparticles & Nanocomposites (NN) Group at ICMAB-CSIC

Date: Thursday, 8 September 2022
Time: 11:00 am
Venue: Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles, ICMAB-CSIC.

Abstract:

With the development of industry and agriculture, large amounts of wastewater are produced and discharged. The increasing awareness that water is a finite, vulnerable resource calls for increased monitoring and treatment of the produced pollutants. The main objective of this thesis was the development of novel sustainable electrochemical sensors for the sensitive analysis of water pollutants.

In particular, we focused on the measurement of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and the quantitative detection of organohalides and heavy metals. To this aim, metal nanoparticle-modified porous carbon nanocomposites were synthesized and further processed to manufacture miniaturized thick-film and thin-film electrochemical devices by screen printing and microfabrication techniques. A full assessment of the analytical performance of the different devices was carried out.

Supervisors:

• César Fernández-Sánchez, Chemical Transducers Group, IMB-CNM, CSIC
• Martí Gich, Nanoparticles & Nanocomposites (NN) Group, ICMAB, CSIC

PhD Comittee:

• President: Margarita Darder Colom, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM), CSIC, Spain
• Secretary: Dino Tonti, ICMAB, CSIC, Spain
• Vocal: Gillaume Suárez, Lausanne University, Switzerland

University: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
PhD Programme: Materials Science PhD Programme

Low-cost and easy-to-use miniaturized electrochemical sensors for environmental water monitoring