As high-precision instrumentation is becoming more portable and cost-effective, an opportunity has arisen to move the electrochemical analysis techniques out of the laboratory and into novel application environments. The increased demand in electrochemical systems driven by a new age of technology sees the need for devices that are adaptive to the following: 1) portable, allowing for handheld and user-friendly field-based testing; 2) embeddable, allowing for long-term in situ assays; and 3) low cost, allowing for largescale, parallel simultaneous experiments. To address these needs, we propose a potentiostat platform which allows for a variety of electrochemical assays to be performed on a miniaturized, battery-powered, low-cost device. This device incorporates the three key components of a potentiostat: output stage, input stage, and control/communications, into a single 27 mm × 20 mm footprint. The device is evaluated through several bench tests which confirmed the accuracy of both the precision voltage output and current measurement input of the device. Subsequently, three electrochemical experiments were conducted to evaluate the realworld performance and application of the device. These experiments allowed for the confirmation of the devices capability to accurately perform chronoamperometry, cyclic voltammetry, and anodic stripping square wave voltammetry. These experiments clearly indicated that the device operates as an analytically useful potentiostat, outputting accurate voltages, and precisely measuring the resulting current.
The recognition of differences between regulated large-scale mass manufactured products and the uncontrolled cultivation of tobaccos for illicit purposes plays a significant role within identification of provenance. This research highlights X-ray fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy as useful analytical techniques for the rapid identification of tobacco samples of unknown provenance. Identification of key discriminative features within each technique allowed for the development of typical characteristic profiles for each type of tobacco. Analysis using X-ray fluorescence highlights chlorine, potassium, calcium and iron as key elemental indicators of tobacco provenance. Significant levels of chlorine seen within Snüs samples prompted attempts to visualise chlorine containing regions and structures within the sample. Scanning electron microscopy images showed crystalline structures visible within the Snüs tobacco, structures which Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy qualitatively confirmed to contain chlorine. Chloride levels within Snüs samples were quantified using ion chromatography with levels found to range between 0.87mgmL(-1) and 1.28mg. Additionally, FTIR indicated that absorbances attributed to carbonyl stretching at 1050-1150cm(-1), alkane bending at 1350-1480cm(-1) and amide I stretching at 1600-1700cm(-1) highlighting a spectral fingerprint region that allowed for the clear differentiation between different types of tobaccos using PCA analysis, but was limited by differentiation between provenance of cigarettes and hand rolled tobacco. X-ray fluorescence and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy yielded different information with regards tobacco discrimination and provenance, however both methods overall analysis time and cost reduced indicating usefulness as potential handheld analytical techniques in the field.
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