Discharge of metal containing effluents into water has been a cause of major concern. Traditional treatment methods are proving to be ineffective and expensive. Chitosan was studied as a sensitive and selective biopolymer due to its positive charge and relatively low cost. Chitosan is an attractive natural polymer for numerous reasons. It is a renewable resource and waste product of the seafood industry and it is in abundant supply. The study involves evaluating the metal sensing performance of chitosan. Two techniques were applied in this study to fabricate heavy metal sensor which are dipping process which known as (tongue sensor) and without dipping process or contaminated air exposure technique (nose sensor). Dipping process showed higher sensitivity than without dipping but for dipping process sensor can't reuse more than one time because chitosan film become swell. Different deposition times were applied to improve the sensitivity of chitosan film and the best performance time of 90 second has been chosen for electrical testing without dipping. Chitosan film has been fabricated by using electrochemical deposition technique. Sensor properties such as sensitivity, response time, recovery and electrical properties towards Cu with different molar concentration have been studied. The results shows chitosan film has good sensitivity, response time between 6 tO l 0 minutes, repeatability and excellent recovery time and sensor properties. The sensitivity of chitosan film was related to surface structure and deposition time. SEM and FTIR techniques were employed to characterize chitosan film structure.
