Micro-Sensing with Plastics: Empowering People for a Sustainable Planet
Cope Plastics Works With Local Students To Build Solution for Safe Drinking Water Around the World!
Students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in partnership with the Lewis Clark Community College and the National Great Rivers Research Education Center in Alton, IL developed MoboSens: a Mobile Phone Liquid Sensing Technology to be used for testing water contamination anywhere in the world. The device, made nearly 100% with plastic materials can test the nitrate concentration in water samples and show immediate results with the use of a Smartphone. The students and faculty involved in the design, fabrication and testing of this product worked closely with the fabrication team at Cope Plastics, Inc. in Alton to determine the appropriate plastics products. The requirements for the plastic used in this device were:
NSF 61 Compliant
FDA Approved
Cost Effective
Moisture Resistant
Static Resistant
Porosity free (which makes it antimicrobial)
Machinable & injection-moldable
Able to be etched with router or laser
Durable & shatter resistant
The plastics chosen for the job was Acetron® GP (POM-C), which met all of the required criteria.
Nearly four million children die of water-related illnesses every year across the globe. The hope is that technology such as this will help to save many lives in the future with this ground-breaking discovery.
Check out our video to find out more about the device and the team behind this technology!
MoboSense Video
