Development of a Portable Fiberoptic Surface Enhanced Raman Sensor for In-Situ Detection and Monitoring of Perchlorate and Energetics.

摘要

Costs for environmental analysis and monitoring are increasing at a rapid rate and represent a significant percentage of the total and future remedial expenses at many U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contaminated sites. This project developed a cost-effective, miniaturized sensor for rapid field detection and monitoring of perchlorate (ClO4-), trinitrotoluene (TNT), and cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine (RDX) in contaminated groundwater or surface water via fiber-optic surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) techniques. The performance of the potable Raman sensor was evaluated for detection and analysis of energetics both in laboratory and field. We showed the detection of ClO4-, TNT, and RDX at ppb to sub-ppm concentration levels in groundwater from a number of contaminated monitoring wells at several selected DoD military sites. This new technology shows the potential to provide a tool for rapid, in- situ screening and analysis of energetics that are both important for environmental monitoring and of interest for national security.