Mercury droplet microelectrode sensor on lab-on-a-chip for heavy metal ion detection

A novel microfabricated mercury droplet electrode sensor has been designed, fabricated and characterized for heavy ion metal detection in the application of environmental pollution monitoring using an on-chip mercury droplet generation technique. The mercury droplet has been uniformly generated and controlled from on-chip mercury reservoir by thermopneumatic actuation and surface tension effect of mercury droplet. The mercury droplet electrode sensor has been integrated on a lab-on-a-chip system for easy control of mercury droplet and liquid samples. The polluted liquid samples with different concentration of Pb/sup 2+/ and Cd/sup 2+/ have been successfully detected and characterized on the mercury droplet electrode sensor using the square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV).