New Techniques in Monitoring Water Pollution - Development of Sonochemically Fabricated Microarrays for the Determination of Pollutants.

The focus of this article is to describe a simple-to-use, disposable sensor suitable for the rapid determination of pollutants in aqueous media, utilising a novel sonochemical microelectrode fabrication technique. The use of screen- printing, electrochemical and sonochemical methods allows the production of microelectrode arrays capable of stir-independent determination of chlorine in water. These arrays permit the simultaneous measurement of free and total chlorine at concentrations between 0-20 ppm. Developments leading to production on a mass scale will be briefly discussed. A further system incorporating enzyme containing conductive polymers to give microelectrode arrays capable of detection of ultra-low levels of organophosphate pesticides will also be described. Acetylcholine esterase could be entrapped within conductive polyaniline protrusions and the effects of pesticides on its activity determined. Ultra low concentrations of pesticide were found to reduce the enzymes activity as measured electrochemically. These systems allow the detection of organophosphates at concentrations as low as (10-17 M).