All-in-One Detection / Quantification / Degradation of s-Triazine-Derived Herbicides in Microfluidic Chips with Multi-Functional Quantum Dots – ASTRID

The detection of polluting species in the environment (water, soil, air) and in consumer products (food, manufactured products) is a major public health and environmental issue. Nowadays, many chemical substances have been classified as probable carcinogens, reprotoxic or mutagenic (CMR), while their utilization remains highly developed in the industry and production processes. Among all these substances, s-triazine derived herbicides, such as Atrazine, are highly represented and they remain some of the most employed chemicals in the agri-food industry. Current official detection of s-triazine, in order to meet the regulation standards, in drinkable water and environment compartments relies on complex and expensive but nevertheless classic, in-lab only methodologies.
In this project, we aim to provide the basis for a sensitive (according to the EU and WHO requirements) and selective optical detection method while being straightforward and useable by non-expert users in order to give the possibility to detect s-triazine derived herbicides without any expensive laboratory equipment. First, we plan to focus on Atrazine since it is the most pertinent in this family and one of the most employed in the world. Nevertheless, different s-triazine herbicides will still be tested and compared among the most frequently found in the environment (including their degradation products and metabolites) and the ones still commercialized. In parallel, these devices will be evolved to propose efficient and controlled degradation using photo-generated reactive oxygen species.
To propose such systems, this project relies on the development of innovative microfluidic chips incorporating nano-hybrid objects design strategies supported by a multi-disciplinary Team at (PPSM – ENS Paris-Saclay) that combine the expertise in molecular design, organic synthesis, supramolecular chemistry, nanomaterials and microfluidics manufacturing and study. Several systems will be designed with a strategy based on well-known and convergent organic chemistry and coupling reactions supported by in-silico molecular design.
The unique photophysical properties of semiconductor nanocrystals and the selective recognition unit combined inside microfluidic chips will allow highly sensitive and specific detection of s-triazine derivatives at the ppb level by spectroscopy based technics. Such device will deliver alternative tools for direct and on-field detection/quantification/degradation of herbicide pollutants in soil, water and consumer products. The objectives of this project are therefore:
- Develop a compact all integrated computer driven microfluidic setup, using nanomaterials based on QDs nano-hybrids, and devoted to the optical detection of Atrazine in soil and/or water.
- Induce controlled degradation of herbicides using multifunctional nano-hybrids “QDs – molecular receptor” in micro/millifluidic chips.
The results obtained by these devices will then be compared to the methods in place in laboratories as well as to recent research published in the literature
Then, subsequent applications will be considered through collaborative links established with end-users during previous project calls. In addition, the research work carried out in this project on the complexation of neutral targets and on the photophysics and photochemistry of QD-based nanohybrids, but also on the development of new sensing and degradation devices devoted to trace amounts of pollutants in the environment could be extended to other chemical, such as Glyphosate. Future development might be able to propose differential sensing to probe a wide range of chemicals with one device. Finally, the development and sharing of technology that gives people the ability to protect themselves from environmental pollution is a very inspiring perspective.