Skip to main content
Log in

Voltammetric drug testing makes sense at the border

  • Down to Business
  • Published:

From Nature Reviews Chemistry

View current issue Sign up to alerts

The European BorderSens project leverages voltammetric sensors, developed with end-users’ input, to rapidly and accurately detect illicit drugs. By embracing practicalities and validation, this technology has the potential to combat the illicit drug problem.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1: BorderSens development workflow.
Fig. 2: BorderSens single sensor.

References

  1. World Drug Report 2023 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2023); https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2023.html.

  2. Florea, A., de Jong, M. & De Wael, K. Electrochemical strategies for the detection of forensic drugs. Curr. Opin. Electrochem. 11, 34–40 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. De Rycke, E., Stove, C., Dubruel, P., De Saeger, S. & Beloglazova, N. Recent developments in electrochemical detection of illicit drugs in diverse matrices. Biosens. Bioelectron. 169, 112579 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Compton, R. G. & Banks, C. E. Understanding Voltammetry (Imperial College Press, 2010).

  5. Moro, G. et al. Unlocking the full power of electrochemical fingerprinting for on-site sensing applications. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 412, 5955–5968 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Van Echelpoel, R., de Jong, M., Daems, D., Van Espen, P. & De Wael, K. Unlocking the full potential of voltammetric data analysis: A novel peak recognition approach for (bio)analytical applications. Talanta 233, 122605 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Gans, J. S. & Stern, S. The product market and the market for “ideas”: commercialization strategies for technology entrepreneurs. Res. Policy 32, 333–350 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Teece, D. J. Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy. Res. Policy 15, 285–305 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the entire BorderSens consortium. The authors acknowledge the support of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no. 833787, BorderSens.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karolien De Wael.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Van Echelpoel, R., De Wael, K. Voltammetric drug testing makes sense at the border. Nat Rev Chem 8, 79–81 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-023-00571-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-023-00571-1

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation