Field Determination of Phosphate in Water Samples Using a 3D Printed Microfluidic Chip

Phosphorus is one of the essential elements that is widely applied as a fertilizer inagriculture, as a detergent in industry and as a softener in water tretment, as weel as in beveragedrink and food products to prevent the growth of mold and bacteria. However, it has diverseeffects, especially when released into the aquatic environment, by reducing the level of watersolubleoxygen [1-4]. Thus, fast on-site analysis of phosphate in aquatic ecosystems is a vitalinquiry. In this research, a simple and low-cost microfluidic device was 3D printed and uesed forfield analysis of phosphate in environmental samples. An image-based colorimetric detectionmethod was used based on the complex formation of phosphate ions with ammoniumheptamolybdate. The influential experimental parameters including pH of sample, reaction time,2and concentration of chromogenic reagent were investigated and optimized using a Box-Behnkendesign (BBD). The calibration curve was linear within 0.1-50 μg mL-1 (R2> 0.996) of phosphate.Total time of each experiment was obtained 8 min. The microfluidic device was successfullyapplied for the determination of phosphate in real water samples.

Field Determination of Phosphate in Water Samples Using a 3D Printed Microfluidic Chip Keywords:

3D printed microfluidic chip , phosphate , environmental samples , Box-Behnken design