Heavy metal pollution is a severe environmental problem affecting many water resources. The non-biodegradable nature of the heavy metals such as lead (Pb) causes severe human health issues, so their cost-effective, sensitive and rapid detection is needed. In this work, we describe a simple, facile and low cost modifications of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and \b{eta}-cyclodextrin (\b{eta}CD) through non-covalent/physical (Phys) and a covalent Steglich esterification (SE) approaches. The Phys modification approach resulted Pb detection with a limit-of-detection (LoD) of 0.9 ppb, while the SE approach showed an LoD of 2.3 ppb, both of which are well below the WHO Pb concentration guideline of 10 ppb. The MWCNT-\b{eta}CD (Phys) based electrodes show negligible interference with other common heavy metal ions such as Cd2+ and Zn2+. The MWCNT-\b{eta}CD based electrodes were of low-cost owing to their simple synthesis approaches, exhibited good selectivity and reusability. The proposed MWCNT-\b{eta}CD based electrodes is a promising technology in developing a highly affordable and sensitive electrochemical sensing system of Pb in drinking water.

Abstract Accurate, efficient, inexpensive, and multi-parameter monitoring of water quality parameters is critical for continued water safety from developed urban regions to resource-limited or sparsely populated areas. This study describes an integrated sensing system with solution-processed pH, free chlorine, and temperature sensors on a common glass substrate. The pH and temperature sensors are fabricated by low-cost inkjet printing of palladium/palladium oxide and silver. The potentiometric pH sensor has a high sensitivity of 60.6 mV/pH and a fast response of 15 s. The Wheatstone-bridge-based temperature sensor shows an immediate response of 3.35 mV/°C towards temperature change. The free chlorine sensor is based on an electrochemically modified pencil lead, which exhibits a stable and reproducible sensitivity of 342 nA/ppm for hypochlorous acid. Such a free chlorine sensor is potentiostat-free and calibration-free, so it is easy-to-use. The three sensors are connected to a field-programmable gate array board for data collection, analysis and display, with real-time pH and temperature compensation for free chlorine sensing. The developed sensing system is user-friendly, cost-effective, and can monitor water samples in real-time with an accuracy of >82%. This platform enables water quality monitoring by nonprofessionals in a simple manner.