Cheap and Simple: Paper Strips Detect Water Pollutants

You know how some industries, like pharmaceuticals and plastics, release harmful chemicals called phenols into water? Detecting these pollutants is tricky and usually requires expensive methods and skilled people. Enter the affordable, easy-to-use paper strips! These strips, made from simple filter paper, change color when they come into contact with phenols. Two prototypes, WFP-1 and WFP-4, were tested and found to detect phenols as low as 6. 01 mg/L and 9. 66 mg/L, respectively. The strips even showed different colors for five common phenols: pyrogallol, gallic acid, resorcinol, vanillin, and hydroquinone. Scientists used a software called ImageJ to analyze these colors. Interestingly, pyrogallol caused the most change, while vanillin caused the least, showing how different phenols react with the color-changing agent. When tested with real water samples, these strips were able to find over 90% of the phenol called resorcinol. This means these paper strips are not only cheap but also quite effective. They could be a game-changer in monitoring water quality and keeping us safe from harmful chemicals.