A voltammetric electronic tongue for detecting energetic compounds in water

A voltammetric electronic tongue was developed for detecting energetic compounds in water, providing a rapid, real time method. For the presented study, a glassy carbon electrode, a platinum electrode, and a gold electrode were used to analyze target explosives, nitrotoluene, nitrobenzene, 2,4-dinitrotoluene, and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in water. A compact potentiostat was developed to conduct cyclic voltammetry and for extracting data from the electrode sensor array. Finally, pattern recognition methods, such as principal components analysis and a decision tree method are presented for interpretation and discrimination of results.