Home Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field

  • Jeffrey Crosby EMAIL logo and Jay James
Published/Copyright: March 4, 2016
Reviews on Environmental Health
From the journal Reviews on Environmental Health Volume 31 Issue 1

Abstract

Mercury is a pollutant of pressing global concern. National and international efforts are focused on reducing mercury in the environment to prevent its adverse health impacts. Better sensors would aid in these efforts. This paper details ongoing efforts to deploy novel plasmonic mercury sensors. The authors describe the research efforts to develop the fundamental technology in a research lab and the experience translating that fundamental research into a viable field-ready sensor. Lessons learned along the way are explored.

Keywords: commercialization; environmental sensors; gold nanoparticles; mercury; plasmonics
Corresponding author: Jeffrey Crosby, CTO Picoyune LLC, Berkeley, CA, USA, E-mail:

References

1. UNEP. Minamata Convention on Mercury [Internet]. UNEP. 2013. Available at: www.mercuryconvention.org.Search in Google Scholar

2. UNEP. Global Atmospheric Mercury Assessment: Sources, Emissions and Transport [Internet]. [cited 2011 Nov 12]. Available at: http://www.unep.org/chemicalsandwaste/Mercury/ReportsandPublications/GlobalMercuryAssessment/tabid/1060889/Default.aspx.Search in Google Scholar

3. Eustis S, El-Sayed MA. Why gold nanoparticles are more precious than pretty gold: noble metal surface plasmon resonance and its enhancement of the radiative and nonradiative properties of nanocrystals of different shapes. Chem Soc Rev 2006;35(3):209–17.10.1039/B514191ESearch in Google Scholar PubMed

4. Liz-Marzán LM. Nanometals. Reactions 2004;17:18.10.1016/S1369-7021(04)00080-XSearch in Google Scholar

5. Levlin M, Niemi HEM, Hautojärvi P, Ikävalko E, Laitinen T. Mercury adsorption on gold surfaces employed in the sampling and determination of vaporous mercury: a scanning tunneling microscopy study. Fresenius J Anal Chem 1996;355(1):2–9.10.1007/s0021663550002Search in Google Scholar PubMed

6. Morris T, Copeland H, McLinden E, Wilson S, Szulczewski G. The effects of mercury adsorption on the optical response of size-selected gold and silver nanoparticles. Langmuir 2002;18(20):7261–4.10.1021/la020229nSearch in Google Scholar

7. Rex M, Hernandez FE, Campiglia AD. Pushing the limits of mercury sensors with gold nanorods. Anal Chem 2005;78(2):445–51.10.1021/ac051166rSearch in Google Scholar PubMed

8. Crosby JS, James JZ, Lucas D, Koshland CP. Determination of total mercury concentration in aqueous samples with gold nanoparticles. Anal Methods 2014;6(4):1254–60.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000330795200040&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=b7bc2757938ac7a7a821505f8243d9f310.1039/c3ay42202jSearch in Google Scholar

9. James JZ, Lucas D, Koshland CP. Gold nanoparticle films as sensitive and reusable elemental mercury sensors. Environ Sci Technol 2012;46(17):9557–62.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000308260700042&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=b7bc2757938ac7a7a821505f8243d9f310.1021/es3005656Search in Google Scholar PubMed PubMed Central

10. James JZ, Lucas D, Koshland CP. Elemental mercury vapor interaction with individual gold nanorods. Analyst [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2013 Apr 24]. Available at: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2013/an/c3an36841f.Search in Google Scholar

11. Crosby JS, Lucas D, Koshland CP. Fiber optic based evanescent wave sensor for the detection of elemental mercury utilizing gold nanorods. Sens Actuators B Chem [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2013 May 8]. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925400513001585.10.1016/j.snb.2013.02.037Search in Google Scholar

12. National Science Foundation. NSF Innovation Corps [Internet]. [cited 2015 Jul 29]. Available at: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/index.jsp.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2015-10-15
Accepted: 2015-10-16
Published Online: 2016-03-04
Published in Print: 2016-03-01

©2016 by De Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
  4. A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
  5. Exposure to Metals
  6. Arsenic projects in SE Asia
  7. Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
  8. Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
  9. Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
  10. Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
  11. Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
  12. Mining
  13. Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
  14. The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
  15. Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
  16. Hazardous Waste
  17. Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
  18. Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
  19. Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
  20. Water
  21. Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
  22. Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
  23. Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
  24. Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
  25. What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
  26. Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
  27. Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
  28. Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
  29. Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  30. Environmental Justice and Human Rights
  31. Creating healthy and just bioregions
  32. Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
  33. Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  34. Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
  35. EcoSystem
  36. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
  37. Exposure to e-waste
  38. E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
  39. Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
  40. E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
  41. E-waste interventions in Ghana
  42. CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
  43. Cancer
  44. Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
  45. Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review
  46. Children
  47. Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the South Pacific: how might it be impacting children?
  48. Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
  49. Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
  50. Emerging issues
  51. Bayesian networks in infectious disease eco-epidemiology
  52. Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  53. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) personal exposure evaluation on mechanics and administrative officers at the motor vehicle testing center at Pulo Gadung, DKI Jakarta
  54. Life cycle assessment of dairy farms
https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2015-0051
Keywords for this article
commercialization; environmental sensors; gold nanoparticles; mercury; plasmonics

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Traditional and emerging environmental hazards in South-East Asia: double-trouble in the 21st century
  4. A quarter century of the Pacific Basin Consortium: looking back to move forward
  5. Exposure to Metals
  6. Arsenic projects in SE Asia
  7. Lead exposure from battery recycling in Indonesia
  8. Connecting mercury science to policy: from sources to seafood
  9. Mercury exposure in the work place and human health: dental amalgam use in dentistry at dental teaching institutions and private dental clinics in selected cities of Pakistan
  10. Protecting health from metal exposures in drinking water
  11. Exposure assessment of lead from food and airborne dusts and biomonitoring in pregnant mothers, their fetus and siblings in Karachi, Pakistan and Shimotsuke, Japan
  12. Mining
  13. Reconciling PM10 analyses by different sampling methods for Iron King Mine tailings dust
  14. The “CHILD” framework for the study of artisanal mercury mining communities
  15. Hydraulic fracturing for natural gas: impact on health and environment
  16. Hazardous Waste
  17. Searching bioremediation patents through Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
  18. Proteomics of Sphingobium indicum B90A for a deeper understanding of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) bioremediation
  19. Novel industrial wastewater treatment integrated with recovery of water and salt under a zero liquid discharge concept
  20. Water
  21. Connecting science with industry: lessons learned transferring a novel plasmonic mercury sensor from the bench to the field
  22. Pilot-scale UV/H2O2 study for emerging organic contaminants decomposition
  23. Nanotechnology: a clean and sustainable technology for the degradation of pharmaceuticals present in water and wastewater
  24. Solar-driven membrane distillation demonstration in Leupp, Arizona
  25. What works in water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries with EWB-USA
  26. Natural Disasters and a Changing Environment
  27. Environmental exposures due to natural disasters
  28. Changing exposures in a changing world: models for reducing the burden of disease
  29. Sustainable development through a gendered lens: climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction
  30. Environmental Justice and Human Rights
  31. Creating healthy and just bioregions
  32. Worm-free children: an integrated approach to reduction of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Central Java
  33. Diabetes in Native Americans: elevated risk as a result of exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
  34. Pollution, health and development: the need for a new paradigm
  35. EcoSystem
  36. Pacific connections for health, ecosystems and society: new approaches to the land-water-health nexus
  37. Exposure to e-waste
  38. E-waste: the growing global problem and next steps
  39. Global challenges for e-waste management: the societal implications
  40. E-waste issues in Sri Lanka and the Basel Convention
  41. E-waste interventions in Ghana
  42. CALUX bioassay: a cost-effective rapid screening technique for screening dioxins like compounds
  43. Cancer
  44. Cancer surveillance and research on environmental contributions to cancer
  45. Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review
  46. Children
  47. Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene in the South Pacific: how might it be impacting children?
  48. Children’s environmental health indicators in Australia: are we collecting the right information?
  49. Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border
  50. Emerging issues
  51. Bayesian networks in infectious disease eco-epidemiology
  52. Health co-benefits in mortality avoidance from implementation of the mass rapid transit (MRT) system in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  53. Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) personal exposure evaluation on mechanics and administrative officers at the motor vehicle testing center at Pulo Gadung, DKI Jakarta
  54. Life cycle assessment of dairy farms
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 6.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2015-0051/pdf?lang=en
Scroll to top button