Chromium, one of the top five toxic heavy metals ranked according to significance in public health by WHO, exists as Cr(III) which is naturally occurring or Cr(VI) which is anthropogenic in origin. The EPA specifies the maximum contaminant level in drinking water to be 10-6 M or 0.1 mg/L or 100 ppb for the total dissolved Cr. To ensure the water consumed by the population has these pollutants below the safe threshold, this report demonstrates a field effect transistor (FET) based sensor design incorporating a highly target specific ion-selective membrane combined with extended gate technology which manifests sensitivity exceeding the Nernst limit aided by the high field effect in the short gap region of extended gate technology. Characterization and repeated testing of the portable device revealed a commendable calibration sensitivity of 99 mV/log [Cr3+] and 71 mV/log [Cr6+] for Cr(III) and Cr(VI) respectively, well surpassing the Nernst limits of sensitivity and offering a detection limit lower than ion-selective electrodes (10-6 M), and comparable to the expensive benchtop laboratory instrument, ICP-MS. This report presents a robust, easy to fabricate, economic and efficient handheld biosensor to detect the chromium in a liquid sample whether it exists as Cr(III) or Cr(VI).
Keywords: chromium; extended gate field-effect transistors (FETs); ion-selective membrane (ISM); lab-on-a-chip; multiplexed heavy metal ion detection; sensor array.