PROJECT DETAILS
| Name: |
|
Novel approaches to reversible opto-electrochemical fibre sensing of chlorine in water |
| Co-principal investigator: |
|
Barna Kovács, Ph.D.; Karla Vlčková, MSc. |
| From: |
|
2005-01-01 |
|
| To: |
|
2007-12-31 |
Novel approaches to optical monitoring of chlorine content in water are
proposed. The proposal reflects a growing public need for highly sensitive
on-line analytical methods for the determination of quality of drinking
water as water disinfection by commonly used chlorination may lead to
formation of toxic by-products. While the conventional analytical approaches
are suitable for laboratory monitoring of water chlorination in
concentration ranges acceptable for drinking water, they are not capable of
providing information about the chlorine content from end user in real time
and therefore they are not suitable for field applications. The proposed
approach is based on evanescent-wave optical detection of chlorine-induced
optical absorption changes of opto-chemical transducers immobilised onto the
detection fibres, which can be reversed by electrochemical reactions
realised by charged indium-tin-oxide transparent layers applied on the
fibres. In this way the fibre can be repeatedly used for chlorine sensing.
The main objective of the project is to analyse, develop and optimise the
proposed approach so that a detection limit below the acceptable chlorine
content in drinking water is achieved. The attention will be concentrated on
the technology of sensing fibres, characterisation and optimisation of fibre
sensitivity in relation to water analysis.
