Development of Boron Doped Diamond Sensors for Water Quality Monitoring
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
2018-19: MSc Diamond Science & Technology includes the following modules:
CH976 Novel and Efficient Methods of Material Synthesis
PX904 Properties and Characterization of Materials
PX905 Defects and Dopants
CH977 Theory and Modelling of Materials
PX906 Manufacturing the Future: Industrial Diamond
CH978 Surfaces, Interfaces and Coatings
CH979 Devices and Fabrication
PX907 Diamond Photonics and Quantum Devices
CH980 Applications of High Performance Materials
CH981 Mini Research Project 1 and 2
And either CH914 or PX908:
CH914 Electrochemistry and Sensors
PX908 Biomedical Optics and Applications
Project:
Assessing the quality of water is essential for so many different application areas covering industrial use, waste water, health and safety, food processing, environmental, agriculture etc. Solution species such as pH and chlorine and related measurements provide vital information on the health of the water. Techniques commonly employed to make these measurements suffer from a variety of problems, such as stability, the need for added reagents, issues with miniaturisation, response time. Electrochemistry is one method of sensing solution species but typical electrochemical sensors are based on membrane electrodes which can suffer from a sluggish time response and frequent clogging of the membrane. Therefore this project aims to explore the development and application of membrane-free, reagent-less, fast responding, direct contact diamond based electrochemical sensors for water quality sensing.
Project aims:
1. Develop an understanding of how the intrinsic electrode material properties impact on the electrochemical performance of the boron doped diamond electrode
2. Application of in-situ pH control
3. Development of finite element models (FEM) to complement the experimental data and so aid in choice of electrode design and operating parameters
4. Development of a chlorine sensor based on diamond for chlorine sensing at low concentrations, and corresponding FEM
5. Implementation of pH control may be important in 4. to quantify the response of the device, this will be investigated and modelled, integration of an internal pH sensor may also be useful
6. Investigating how to overcome reference electrode instability
7. Investigation of the effect of solution flow on the performance of the device
CH976 Novel and Efficient Methods of Material Synthesis
PX904 Properties and Characterization of Materials
PX905 Defects and Dopants
CH977 Theory and Modelling of Materials
PX906 Manufacturing the Future: Industrial Diamond
CH978 Surfaces, Interfaces and Coatings
CH979 Devices and Fabrication
PX907 Diamond Photonics and Quantum Devices
CH980 Applications of High Performance Materials
CH981 Mini Research Project 1 and 2
And either CH914 or PX908:
CH914 Electrochemistry and Sensors
PX908 Biomedical Optics and Applications
Project:
Assessing the quality of water is essential for so many different application areas covering industrial use, waste water, health and safety, food processing, environmental, agriculture etc. Solution species such as pH and chlorine and related measurements provide vital information on the health of the water. Techniques commonly employed to make these measurements suffer from a variety of problems, such as stability, the need for added reagents, issues with miniaturisation, response time. Electrochemistry is one method of sensing solution species but typical electrochemical sensors are based on membrane electrodes which can suffer from a sluggish time response and frequent clogging of the membrane. Therefore this project aims to explore the development and application of membrane-free, reagent-less, fast responding, direct contact diamond based electrochemical sensors for water quality sensing.
Project aims:
1. Develop an understanding of how the intrinsic electrode material properties impact on the electrochemical performance of the boron doped diamond electrode
2. Application of in-situ pH control
3. Development of finite element models (FEM) to complement the experimental data and so aid in choice of electrode design and operating parameters
4. Development of a chlorine sensor based on diamond for chlorine sensing at low concentrations, and corresponding FEM
5. Implementation of pH control may be important in 4. to quantify the response of the device, this will be investigated and modelled, integration of an internal pH sensor may also be useful
6. Investigating how to overcome reference electrode instability
7. Investigation of the effect of solution flow on the performance of the device
Planned Impact
Students: A CDT is first and foremost a training activity. The students will benefit from an interdisciplinary programme taught by leaders in their respective fields from our eight partner universities and industrial collaborators, focusing on the fundamentals of material science, from the classical to the quantum, but with an emphasis on diamond and related materials and application driven themes. Students will be recruited from a wide range of disciplines, maximising both quality and diversity to provide a richer experience. Our structure ensures that our students will experience at least three different research environments during their studentship; the PhD home university and two different partner institutes (of which one can be industry or that of our international academic partners). This greatly enhances the student experience, promotes mobility and encourages research across disciplines. When they graduate Diamond Science and Technology (DST) students, with a breadth of training no one institution could deliver alone will be ideally placed for employment in academia and industry. Our students will also be able to communicate across disciplines and make the required DST transformative breakthroughs in a wide range of societally important areas, e.g. electronics, optics, quantum computing, photonics, composite materials, energy efficiency and sensing.
Industry and Economy: Our industrial partners are focused on products, jobs and wealth creation. To achieve this they need appropriately skilled people and university R&D to sustain and grow their business in a world where competition is intense. The training programme has been devised to produce graduates who understand the interdisciplinary challenges faced and can communicate across fields, for employment in industries innovating in DST or other high performance material enabled products, businesses that exploit these materials or new businesses created. The industrial letters of support clearly demonstrate the demand for our students and the enthusiasm for the research. Market sectors such as electronics, photonics, sensors, defence and security, materials, abrasives, communications and healthcare will benefit. Through collaboration, industry will gain access to world-class academics and facilities. The training programme is also accessible to industrialists who will profit from accessing MSc modules. With the knowledge gained, companies will be able rapidly exploit DST technologies to position themselves at the cutting-edge. This CDT CDT will enable joined-up and efficient collaboration between universities, companies and users, greatly strengthening impact.
Society: Diamond is so much more than a gemstone. This CDT will actively drive DST in areas of huge societal impact such as, energy (e.g. efficient power devices, nuclear safety), the environment (e.g. decontamination, water quality monitoring), food safety (e.g. sensing contaminants) and health (e.g. ultra-high resolution functional imaging). Inside Science (11/7/13; www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036kxv8) very recently reported on the growing importance of DST to many aspects of modern society and highlighted the £20M Element Six Ltd investment in a new diamond research centre in the UK. We will ensure that DST is used to motivate school children via innovative approaches such as "How to grow a diamond" BBC Bang Goes the Theory, 2011, (>81,000 hits on www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8qgE4LkZa4). To bring diamond to the forefront of public attention we will showcase the work through exhibitions using thought provoking and fun demonstrations, host public understanding lectures, produce podcasts/videos about our work, and host an interactive web-based forum where people have an opportunity to contact "the scientist" in order to ask questions about DST. This is in addition to publishing the results of our research in leading scientific journals, at international conferences and through the DST CDT website.
Industry and Economy: Our industrial partners are focused on products, jobs and wealth creation. To achieve this they need appropriately skilled people and university R&D to sustain and grow their business in a world where competition is intense. The training programme has been devised to produce graduates who understand the interdisciplinary challenges faced and can communicate across fields, for employment in industries innovating in DST or other high performance material enabled products, businesses that exploit these materials or new businesses created. The industrial letters of support clearly demonstrate the demand for our students and the enthusiasm for the research. Market sectors such as electronics, photonics, sensors, defence and security, materials, abrasives, communications and healthcare will benefit. Through collaboration, industry will gain access to world-class academics and facilities. The training programme is also accessible to industrialists who will profit from accessing MSc modules. With the knowledge gained, companies will be able rapidly exploit DST technologies to position themselves at the cutting-edge. This CDT CDT will enable joined-up and efficient collaboration between universities, companies and users, greatly strengthening impact.
Society: Diamond is so much more than a gemstone. This CDT will actively drive DST in areas of huge societal impact such as, energy (e.g. efficient power devices, nuclear safety), the environment (e.g. decontamination, water quality monitoring), food safety (e.g. sensing contaminants) and health (e.g. ultra-high resolution functional imaging). Inside Science (11/7/13; www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036kxv8) very recently reported on the growing importance of DST to many aspects of modern society and highlighted the £20M Element Six Ltd investment in a new diamond research centre in the UK. We will ensure that DST is used to motivate school children via innovative approaches such as "How to grow a diamond" BBC Bang Goes the Theory, 2011, (>81,000 hits on www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8qgE4LkZa4). To bring diamond to the forefront of public attention we will showcase the work through exhibitions using thought provoking and fun demonstrations, host public understanding lectures, produce podcasts/videos about our work, and host an interactive web-based forum where people have an opportunity to contact "the scientist" in order to ask questions about DST. This is in addition to publishing the results of our research in leading scientific journals, at international conferences and through the DST CDT website.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Julie MacPherson (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Katherine Levey (Student) |