A First Step towards Determining the Ionic Content in Water with an Integrated Optofluidic Chip Based on Near-Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy

In this work, we present a feasibility study of integrated optofluidic chips to measure the ionic content in water using differential absorption spectroscopy. The second overtone of the OH-stretch vibration of water is used as indicator for both the type and concentration of the dissolved ions. The optofluidic chips are based on silicon nitride (TripleX) containing Mach&ndash
Zehnder interferometers (MZI) with two 5 cm sensing paths for the sample and reference arms, respectively. Simulations show that, theoretically, the determination of both the type and concentration of a mixture of four electrolytes is possible with the techniques presented. However, the performance of the chips deviated from the expected results due to the insufficient reproducibility and precision in the fabrication process. Therefore, at this early stage, the chips presented here could only determine the ion concentration, but not differentiate between the different ion types. Still, this work represents the first steps towards the realization of an online and real-time sensor of ionic content in water.