Lab-on-a-Drone: remote voltammetric analysis of lead in water with real-time data transmission

• Published in: Analytical methods Vol. 15; no. 37; pp. 4827 - 4833
• Main Authors: de Almeida, João Paulo B, de Carvalho, Vinicius, da Silva, Leandro P, do Nascimento, Maysa L, de Oliveira, Severino B, Maia, Matheus V, Suarez, Willian T, Garcia, Carlos D, dos Santos, Vagner B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 28.09.2023
• Subjects: Autonomy; Boron; Confidence intervals; Contaminants; Data transmission; Decision making; Diamonds; Drone aircraft; Drone vehicles; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemical cells; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; Environmental monitoring; Inductively coupled plasma; Lead; Metropolitan areas; Nonprofit organizations; Optical emission spectroscopy; Photovoltaic cells; Power lines; Real time; Rechargeable batteries; Remote control; Silver chloride; Solar cells; Spectrometry; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Unmanned aerial vehicles; Voltammetry; Water analysis; Water sampling
• ISSN: 1759-9660; 1759-9679; 1759-9679
• DOI: 10.1039/d3ay01088k

The present work describes a laboratory-on-a-drone (Lab-on-a-Drone) developed to perform in situ detection of contaminants in environmental water samples. Toward this goal, the system was mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (drone) and remotely controlled via Wi-Fi to acquire a water sample, perform the electrochemical detection step, and then send the voltammetry data to a smartphone. This Lab-on-a-Drone system was also able to recharge its battery using a solar cell, greatly increasing the autonomy of the system, even in the absence of a power line. As a proof of concept, the Lab-on-a-Drone was employed for the detection of Pb 2+ in environmental waters, using a simple electrochemical cell containing a miniaturized screen-printed boron-doped diamond electrode (SP-BDDE) as a working electrode, an Ag/AgCl as a reference electrode, and a graphite ink as a counter electrode. For quantification purposes, analytical curves were constructed covering a concentration range from 1.0 μg L −1 (4.83 nmol L −1 ) to 80.0 μg L −1 (386.10 nmol L −1 ), featuring a detection limit of 0.062 μg L −1 (0.30 nmol L −1 ). The Lab-on-a-Drone was applied to monitor a water reservoir in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Brazil. To evaluate its performance regarding accuracy and precision, a reference method based on inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was applied, and the results obtained by both methods showed no statistical differences ( t -test at 95% confidence level, n = 3). These results represent the first demonstration of the capabilities of an adapted UAV for the quantification of electroactive environmental contaminant using voltammetry, with real-time data transmission. Thus, the Lab-on-a-Drone makes it possible to reach difficult-to-access environmental reserves and to monitor potentially polluting activity in distant water bodies. Thus, this tool can be used by governments and non-profit organizations to monitor environmental waters using fast, low-cost, process autonomy with accurate and precise data useful to decision making. The present work describes a laboratory-on-a-drone (Lab-on-a-Drone) developed to perform in situ detection of contaminants in environmental water samples.