Sensors for water safety and security

Identification and analysis of contaminants arising from occasional release or intentional discharge in unsecured water supplies are fundamental to public welfare. This calls for national and international capacities to respond, sense, detect, isolate, and mitigate threats to water quality. Using advanced nanomaterials as enabling technologies, a series of novel point and stand-off sensors and detectors for continuous and in-situ monitoring of inorganic, organic, and microbiological pollutants are described. New sensing approaches based on interaction of the semiconductor surface using electron emission and metal complexes based chiroptical switches are also described.