Project Purpose

Development and testing of a portable, low-energy platform for the sensitive and selective detection of Bisphenol A (BPA) in real samples (water/milk), with wireless data transmission and use in STEM education.

Project Summary

The platform integrates: (i) an electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted hybrid nanomaterials (MIN); (ii) a signal processing unit consisting of a potentiostat on PCB and a microcontroller powered by solar cells; (iii) a dual-antenna RFID system (2.5/5 GHz) for passive data transmission over a few meters. The approach is also extendable to other pollutants (pesticides, water pollutants, gases).

Detection occurs on a portable, energy-autonomous device, and the data are transmitted on demand / in real time to a digital interface - an ideal framework for modern educational activities.

General Objective

Design and laboratory validation (TRL 4) of a PORTABLE-SENS demonstrator for real-time monitoring of BPA, integrating the graphene-based MIN sensor, potentiostat, solar-powered microcontroller, and dual-antenna RFID system.

Specific Objectives

• Ob1 - Increase the selectivity of the graphene-based BPA sensor doped with sulfur through MIP integration and validation on real samples.
• Ob2 - Develop an in-house potentiostat on PCB and customize the microcontroller (Nextlab) for data acquisition/processing.
• Ob3 - Design, manufacture, and test a dual-antenna RFID system (2.5/5 GHz) with enhanced energy efficiency (harvesting & harmonics).
• Ob4 - Integrate the components into a portable platform, with TRL 4 validation in a laboratory environment.

Project Information

• Coordinator: National Institute for Research and Development in Microtechnologies (IMT Bucharest - INCD)
• Partner (P1): Cyberllence Inovație SRL (Nextlab)
• Project Director: Dr. Martino Aldrigo
• Duration: 2025-05-05 → 2027-05-04
• Initial/final TRL: TRL 2 → TRL 4 (laboratory validation)