The development of 3D printing in recent years opens up a vast array of possibilities in the field of flow analysis. In the present study, a new 3D-printed flow system has been developed for the selective spectrophotometric determination of lead in natural waters. This system was composed of three 3D-printed units (sample treatment, mixing coil and detection) that might have been assembled without any tubing to form a complete flow system. Lead was determined in a two-step procedure. A preconcentration of lead was first carried out on TrisKem Pb Resin located in a 3D-printed column reservoir closed by a tapped screw. This resin showed a high extraction selectivity for lead over many tested potential interfering metals. In a second step, lead was eluted by ammonium oxalate in presence of 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR), and spectrophotometrically detected at 520nm. The optimized flow system has exhibited a linear response from 3 to 120µgL. Detection limit, coefficient of variation and sampling rate were evaluated at 2.7µgL, 5.4% (n=6) and 4 sampleh, respectively. This flow system stands out by its fully 3D design, portability and simplicity for low cost analysis of lead in natural waters.
In recent years, the development of 3D printing in flow analysis has allowed the creation of new systems with various applications. Up to now, 3D printing was mainly used for the manufacture of small units such as flow detection cells, preconcentration units or mixing systems. In the present study, a new 3D printed lab-on-valve system was developed to selectively quantify lead and cadmium in water. Different technologies were compared for lab-on-valve 3D printing. Printed test units have shown that stereolithography or digital light processing are satisfactory techniques for creating complex lab-on-valve units. The lab-on-valve system was composed of two columns, eight peripheral ports and a central port, and a coil integrating baffles to increase mixing possibilities. A selective extraction of lead was first carried out by TrisKem Pb™ Resin column. Then, cadmium not retained on the first column was extracted on a second column of Amberlite® IR 120 resin. In a following step, lead and cadmium were eluted with ammonium oxalate and potassium iodide, respectively. Finally, the two metals were sequentially detected by the same Rhod-5N™ fluorescent reagent. This 3D printed lab-on-valve flow system allowed us to quantify lead and cadmium with a linear response from 0.2 to 15 µg L and detection limits of 0.17 and 0.20 µg L for lead and cadmium, respectively, which seems adapted for natural water analysis.
The use of microfluidics technology and the miniaturization of analytical techniques is of high interest for the chemical and nuclear industries. In the latter, the reduction of effluents deriving from actinides concentration monitoring along R&D and pilot-scale purification processes is a permanent concern. lndeed, the extremely harsh operation conditions limit the imple mentation of standard analytical techniques and methodologies, and in this regard, the use of spectrophotometric techniques for effluents characterization becomes advantageous in terms of robustness, implementation and sensitivity at the microfluidic scale. In this work, we report a study of the effect of exposure to different chemicals used in hydrometallurgical processes, and to gamma radiation typical of the Plutonium and Uranium Refining by Extraction process, on the optical and structural properties of different polymeric materials commonly used for the fabrication of microfluidic and optofluidic systems. This study shows that low-cost castable and/or engravable materials (e.g. polydimethylsiloxane and poly-methyl methacrylate) are ideal for the study and development of Photonic Lab on a Chip systems that will be used in a nuclear environment.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.