UC San Diego

Nitrate is an important marker of water quality that can be challenging to detect in seawater due to the presence of multiple chemical interferants and high background chloride. Here, we demonstrate a compact microfluidic device that incorporates electrochemical desalination to selectively remove the interfering chloride ions and improve the detection limit of the downstream potentiometric nitrate sensor. The microfluidic platform was fabricated by a low-cost cut-and-lamination approach, and the detection mechanism was based on potentiometric measurements at an Ag/AgCl electrode coated with a nitrate-selective membrane. The sensor system achieved a detection limit of 0.5 mM with a sensitivity of 11.3 mV/dec under continuous flow.