A method that can detect contaminated water with a touch panel of a smartphone is discovered
To solve the problem of arsenic contamination.
In some parts of the world it is common to drink tap water, and in others it is not. With that in mind, researchers at the University of Cambridge have figured out a way to test whether water is safe with things around us.
The touch panels installed in recent smartphones and tablets (which respond to the slightest finger movement without pressing the screen strongly) can detect whether soil or water contains pollutants. Have you developed an approach?
To put it simply, the mechanism of a touch panel (capacitance method) is that there is an invisible grid-shaped electrode, and when a finger touches the screen, a terminal such as a smartphone detects electrical changes. I'm here.
In the research presented this time, using software (a standard one that can test screens), various liquids were placed on the touch panel and how they reacted to the electric field on the screen depending on the concentration and charge of ions. It is said that they succeeded in distinguishing between
Lower cost and easier than testing with test strips
The touch panels originally used in smartphones and tablets are usually made to respond best to fingers, but researchers thought that by varying the design of the electrodes, sensitivity could be optimized to detect contaminants in samples such as soil and water.
If ions can be detected from touch panels on familiar devices such as smartphones, problems such as arsenic contamination in drinking water can be avoided more efficiently.
Arsenic is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, causing bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer, and even skin cancer. Although it is filtered by most municipal water systems, it is still a serious problem in areas without water treatment plants.
If you use a test paper that changes color depending on the result, it will be easy to detect, but it will be a financial burden.
Researchers hope that touch panel technology will eventually become more sensitive, and more pollutants, including heavy metals such as lead, that affect millions of people worldwide, will become molecules. It indicates the intention to make it detectable. Recently, smartphone makers such as Apple tend to strengthen health care functions, so maybe that is not a dream.