Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Publication Date

2024

College

Sciences and Mathematics, College of

Department

Chemistry and Physics, Department of

BURS Faculty Advisor

Thom Spence

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Abstract

Drinking water, especially tap, is often contaminated with some concentration of heavy metal ions, with two important ones being lead and arsenic. These ions often find their way into the water through household plumbing and service lines, municipal waste disposal, or natural mineral deposits. This is becoming a major concern for public health care professionals as consuming high levels of heavy metals can be detrimental to health. The acceptable limit of lead in drinking water is 15 parts per billion (ppb), however, many devices for analyzing samples are not able to reliably detect heavy metals at that level, at least not the affordable ones. The Belmont Electrochemical Analysis Research System (BEARS) is an electrochemical sensing device that utilizes square wave voltammetry to detect lead in water samples at extremely low concentrations. It offers a level of precision that other options such as spectroscopy cannot. While the BEARS device is very successful at detecting lead in samples, the current graphite electrodes are not able to detect Arsenic which can also cause significant health problems when ingested. Recent research has found success in detecting arsenic using gold electrodes. This paper outlines a method of synthesizing gold nanoparticle-coated electrodes for the improved detection of arsenic in water samples.

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