Project on the detection of pollutants approved as part of call UT Austin – Portugal

The project, called “Graphene-based semiconductor photocatalysis for a safe and sustainable water supply: an advanced technology for emerging pollutants removal,” will be receiving a total of 200 euros worth of funding.

The main goal of the project is to develop technology to detect and measure the concentrations of pollutants in waste-water treatment plants. The pollutants include pharmaceuticals or other substances (such as the birth control pill, anti-inflammatory drugs, coffee) which have a significant environmental impact.

As part of this project, CRACS will be developing an electrochemical sensor to detect and measure the concentration of pollutant pharmaceuticals based on graphene, as well as  integrate the sensor in a wireless sensor network, and the respective software support to read the data in real time.

The project is led by REQUIMTE (Chemistry and Technology Network), and involves the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto and the School of Engineering of Porto. Besides INESC TEC, other partners include CICECO (Centre for Research in Ceramics & Composite Materials) at the University of Aveiro, Professor Brian Korgel at UT Austin, and the Portuguese company SIMLIS S.A..

Photo credits: Diário de Leiria

INESC TEC, March 2015