Field Portable System for Measuring Chlorinated Organic Solvents in Water

We propose to demonstrate proof of concept and feasibility for our design for a new class of field portable sensor devices capable of rapidly detecting, measuring and classifying Chlorinated Organic Solvents (COS) in environmental waters. The proposed sensor technology is based on an innovative adaptation of surface enhanced Ramon spectroscopy that greatly increases the Raman signal strength and the sensor"s detection capability. A sensor with the proposed level of performance could accurately identify and quantify COS in water samples in real-time by collecting molecular conformation structures and related spectrum profile information as chemical"fingerprints". The sensor system would be designed as a light-weight field portable unit capable of rapidly providing the needed quantitative measurements of COS such as trichloroethylene (TCE), dichloromethane, etc. Successful development will lead to increased COS detection speed and accuracy, greatly surpassing current approaches. The proposed project will also lead to key advances in Raman spectroscopy that can support many other valuable government and commercial products addressing a wide range of military, police, homeland security, medical and environmental sensor applications.