A Prototype Development and Evaluation of Electrochemical Device for Heavy Metal Measurement

Abstract

Heavy metals are highly toxic, carcinogenic, and non-biodegradable and may cause harmful effects on human health and the environment. To reduce or eliminate heavy metal contamination, it is necessary to accurately determine the amount of heavy metal in the environment. Traditional detection techniques are expensive, bulky, and not suitable for in-site applications. The electrochemical technique using a potentiostat instrument is a reliable alternative as its potential to fabricate on a small circuit for in-site application. “Black boxes” nature of most commercial potentiostat leads to various development of lab-build potentiostat. Most lab-build potentiostat was designed for general purpose used. This paper focused on development and evaluation of potentiostat specific for heavy metal detection. The development consists of a readout circuit of electronic components together with NI myRIO-1900 as a controller system. Linearity and accuracy of the readout circuit were evaluated. Single and simultaneous detection of copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were tested. The results show that the proposed design has good repeatability comparable to a commercial potentiostat.