Development of an in-situ microsensor for the measurement of chromium and uranium in groundwater in DOE sites. Progress report, September 15, 1996-September 14, 1997

'The goal of this project is to develop, optimize and deploy a silicon-based micromachined stripping analyzer for field monitoring of trace levels of chromium and uranium. Such system will integrate sample-handling steps and necessary chemical reactions (using a flow-injection operation) with the already proven adsorptive stripping operation on a small planar chip. Besides the drastic reduction in the size of the analytical system, such miniaturization should lead to increased speed, minimal reagent consumption and disposal, higher sensitivity and improved precision and would revolutionize the way by which toxic metals are being monitored. The work during the first year has focused on three directions: (1) design and fabrication of the micromachined flow system for stripping measurements of chromium and uranium; (2) design and evaluation of a remote sensor for in-situ monitoring of chromium and uranium; and (3) developing and characterizing new electrodes for adsorptive stripping measurements of chromium and uranium.