A STUDY conducted by a professor of the University of Santo Tomas was the highlight of the International Conference on Science, Technology, and Innovation for Sustainable Development held in Vietnam.

Alan Rodelle Salcedo, chairman of the Department of Chemistry and a researcher on chemical sensors, presented his study on mercury vapor detection using smartphone cameras and red cabbage extract.

Salcedo discussed the technique using smartphone camera-based colometric detection in the “Innovative Life Science and Smart Materials” session of the conference.

His work, based on papers co-authored with Academician Professor Emeritus Fortunato Sevilla III, was published in Instrumentation Science and Technology and Acta Manilana.

UST said Salcedo’s paper seeks to address the need for ways “to detect atmospheric pollutants of concern in the environment.”

Through digital imaging analysis, the parameters encompassed color values, the polymer reagent binder, Cul quantity, exposure duration, and Hg0 concentration.

Themed “Establishment of Sustainable Technological Solution for Industry and Society,” the two-day conference in Vietnam gathered academics, researchers, scholars, and industry practitioners from around the world to share and discuss recent advances in sustainable science, technology and innovation.