Plug-and-Play Microsystem Enabling Highly Sensitive Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds

Project SummaryThis SBIR Phase I project will investigate the technical feasibility of a microfabricated chip system for enabling on site or in fieldhighly sensitive analysis of volatile organic compoundsVOCsin aqueous samplesThe system consists of two chips in a tandem configurationThe first chip is designed to extract VOCs directly from water samplesThe extracted VOCs are concentrated in the second chipin which the concentrated VOCs can be released on demand for subsequent analysisThe Phase I specific aims are to designfabricateand characterize prototype chipsand to construct and characterize a proof of concept chip systemThe final product will be a plug and play sample preparation concentration microsystem with reusable chipsas well as having the interface for coupling to portable handheld VOC analyzers detectorsVOCsincluding semi VOCsare one of the most important classes of environmental pollutants because of their significant health effectsOn site or in fieldreal timeor near realtimemeasurement of VOCs in water is critical to timely assess environmental contaminationto develop effective risk management strategiesand to protect environmental and human healthAlthough many portable and handheld gaseous VOC detectors are commercially availablethey are unsuitable for on site or in fieldsensitive aqueous VOC analysis due to the lack of an automated miniature sampling precocentration platform that can directly handle water samplesThe proposed microsystem can be coupled to these portable handheld instruments for addressing this critical unmet needMoreoverit can be adjusted to extract and concentrate VOCs from other liquid samples for food quality safety testingbiomonitoringclinical diagnosisetcThe microsystem can also be modified for concentration of VOCs from gaseous samples or for extraction and concentration of VOCs from solid samplesThese will open the door to wider commercial utility Project NarrativeContamination of water bodies by volatile organic compounds poses significant threats to public health and aquatic lifeThe proposed automated sample preparation and concentration microsystem will enable on site or in fieldhighly sensitive analysis of volatile organic compounds in aqueous samplesthereby helping protect human and environmental health