Detecting contaminated water with a smartphone touch panel?

A University of Cambridge research team has found a way to detect whether soil or water contains contaminants through a touch panel mounted on a smartphone or tablet.

In simple terms, the capacitive touch screen structure has invisible grid-shaped electrodes, and when a finger touches the screen, a terminal such as a smartphone detects an electrical change. In this study, it is said that they succeeded in distinguishing how they react to the electric field of the screen by ion concentration and electric charge by putting various liquids on the touch panel while using software with screen test.

Touch panels used in smartphones and tablets are usually made to respond well to fingers, but the team changed the electrode design to optimize sensitivity and detect contaminants in samples such as soil and water.

If ions can be detected with the touch screen of a familiar device such as a smartphone, the problem of arsenic contamination in drinking water can be solved more efficiently. Arsenic is classified as a carcinogen group 1 as a cause of bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, lung cancer and even skin cancer. Most are filtered by the water system, but the reality is that it is still a serious problem in areas without water purification plants.

It is easy to find if you use a test paper that changes color depending on the result, but it is easy to find financially and it is natural that it is much easier to find it with a single smartphone. The research team plans to work on improving the sensitivity of the touch panel technology to detect molecules that become more contaminants. As smartphone manufacturers, including Apple, have recently been strengthening their health care functions, there may be a possibility that it will become a new additional function for smartphones someday. Related information can be found here.