A 3D-printed device to detect antibiotics in wastewater

When we take antibiotics, part of them ends up in wastewater. There they contribute to a global problem: antibiotic resistance. That is why being able to monitor them matters.

In this work we combined three worlds I love: MOFs, 3D printing and analytical chemistry. We designed a 3D-printed device coated with a carbon derived from a zinc and cobalt MOF (Zn/Co-ZIF).

That coating captures the antibiotics —specifically fluoroquinolones— right at the sampling point. Then an automated system separates and measures them precisely.

The great advantage is that 3D printing lets us make the part exactly in the shape we need, integrating the functional material into a device ready to use outside the laboratory.