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. 2023 Feb 17;86(5):459–464. doi: 10.1097/JCMA.0000000000000904

Table 4.

Examples of smartphone-based portable Pb-sensing devices

General components Mechanism LOD Time Ref.
Preprocessing Selectivity
Cost Practical applications
Smartphone, inkjet-printed objective lens, image processing Smartphone nano-colorimetry (SNC): single-step sedimentation (yellow sediment) 1.37 ppb (DI water); 5 ppb (city water) 10 min 38
K2CrO4, PDMS; HNO3 Ba (>100 ppb), CO3 (precipitate)
Tap water simulating with Pb
Smartphone, Paper Strip; UV lamp (365nm); App. (Color recognizer, Xiyi Technology). Colorimetric paper-based dual-emission carbon dots (CDs) B/R fluorescence ratio (8/1); BCDs (452 nm); RCDs (620 nm), Paper Strip; L-cysteine (Cu Chelation) 0.58 ppb (solution instrument) 5 min 39
7.03 ppb (solution smartphone)
9.13 ppb (paper strip smartphone)
Cu (interfere)
Tap and lake water simulating with Pb
Smartphone, TFT LCD, App. (Image process & predict) Colorimetric machine learning algorithm (localized surface plasmon resonance, LSPR) 0.5 ppb 30 min. 40
Gold nanoparticles (GNPs, red to purple) Tap water (Tehran, Iran)
River water (Mazandaran, Iran)
Zamzam water (Mecca, Saudi Arabia)
Smartphone, Optics, LED, Laser diode (405 nM), App. FRET protein biosensor 4.7 ppb 10-60 min 35
PBS (pH 7.4), ionomycin (5 μM), Tricine (10 mM) to chelate Zn Zn (interfere)
USD $544 Tap water (Taiwan)
Smartphone, microcontroller, App. Bluetooth, cloud Whole-copper electrochemical sensor (WCES) chip, Acetate buffer 14.9045 ppb 10 min 41
Lake water (Binya Lake, Haikou city, China)
Smartphone, Paper Strip, Laptop, LED, App. Pb-Alizarin red S (ALS) complex purple color 30 ppb (LOD) 1 min 42
ALS; (color picker application) Ni (tolerance ratio > 10)
USD$0.01 Waste water (electronics factory) simulating with Pb
Smartphone, LED (365 nm); diffuser; lens; microarray chip; SBR-App. Smartphone-based reader (SBR) for paper-based microarray 60 ppb (experiment); 5 min 43
Emission carbon dot (CD) 15.6 ppb (practical application)
CDs (450 nm) Pearl River water (five samples)
USD $180; 130 g
Smartphone, Paper Strip, Laptop, LED, App. RD6G-1 probe with ring opening of the corresponding spirolactam ring 120 ppb (LOD) 31 min 44
RD6G-1 probe, APTES, AuNPs (Color Picker application) Cu (color change)
Chicken meat, liver, heart
Duck meat and eggs
Smartphone, App. SPR, interparticle plasmon coupling through agglomeration 1.5 ppm N.A. 45
AgNP, DHCA, L-DOPA
Water pollution

Generally, most of the targets are water from various sources. The WHO/EPA standard is no less than 10/15 ppb.

AgNP = silver nanoparticle; DHCA = deep hypothermic circulatory arrest; DI water = De Ion water or deionized water; FRET = fluorescence resonance energy transfer; L-DOPA = levodopa or l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine; LOD = limit of detection; PBS = phosphate buffered saline; PDMS = polydimethylsiloxane; UV = ultraviolet.