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Plasmonic detection of mercury via amalgam formation on surface-immobilized single Au nanorods.

ABSTRACT: Au nanorods were used as plasmonic transducers for investigation of mercury detection through a mechanism of amalgam formation at the nanorod surfaces. Marked scattering color transitions and associated blue shifts of the surface plasmon resonance peak wavelengths (?_max) were measured in individual nanorods by darkfield microscopy upon chemical reduction of Hg(II). Such changes were related to compositional changes occurring as a result of Hg-Au amalgam formation as well as morphological changes in the nanorods' aspect ratios. The plot of ?_max shifts vs. Hg(II) concentration showed a linear response in the 10-100 nM concentration range. The sensitivity of the system was ascribed to the narrow width of single nanorod scattering spectra, which allowed accurate determination of peak shifts. The system displayed good selectivity as the optical response obtained for mercury was one order of magnitude higher than the response obtained with competitor ions. Analysis of mercury content in river and tap water were also performed and highlighted both the potential and limitation of the developed method for real sensing applications.

SUBMITTER: Schopf C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5256255 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Plasmonic detection of mercury via amalgam formation on surface-immobilized single Au nanorods.

Schopf Carola C Martín Alfonso A Iacopino Daniela D

Science and technology of advanced materials 20170109 1

Au nanorods were used as plasmonic transducers for investigation of mercury detection through a mechanism of amalgam formation at the nanorod surfaces. Marked scattering color transitions and associated blue shifts of the surface plasmon resonance peak wavelengths (<i>λ</i><sub>max</sub>) were measured in individual nanorods by darkfield microscopy upon chemical reduction of Hg(II). Such changes were related to compositional changes occurring as a result of Hg-Au amalgam formation as well as mor ...[more]

PMID: 28179959

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Project description:Compared to inorganic mercury (Hg2+), methyl-mercury (CH3Hg+) and ethyl-mercury (C2H5Hg+) (organic mercury) not only have a much stronger toxicity but also are more easily accumulated by marine organisms to produce bioamplification. Therefore, the simultaneously onsite detection of Hg2+ and organic mercury is of great significance to ensure the safety of seafood, and it is also a hard challenge. We designed a T-rich aptamer, HT7, for specifically recognizing Hg2+ and organic mercury and developed a multicolor aptasensor for simultaneous discrimination and detection of Hg2+ and organic mercury with only bare-eye observation using HT7 as a recognition probe and gold nanorods (AuNRs) as a signal. In the presence of Hg2+ and Ag+, Hg2+ preferentially and specifically bind with HT7 immobilized on AuNRs surface and induce the formation of a monolayer Ag/Hg amalgam on the AuNRs surface after reduction, resulting in a change in color from orange to faint purple and a corresponding shift in the absorption peak from 820 to 730 nm in the solution. However, in the presence of CH3Hg+ or C2H5Hg+ and Ag+, CH3Hg+ or C2H5Hg+ preferentially bind with HT7 immobilized on the AuNRs surface and induce the formation of a monolayer Ag0 on the AuNRs surface after reduction, which results in the change in color from orange to atrovirens and the corresponding shift in the absorption peak shift from 820 to 670 nm in the solution. Thus, the inorganic and organic mercury (total of CH3Hg+ and C2H5Hg+) can be specifically discriminated and detected by only bare-eye observation. The method can be used to simultaneously detect inorganic and organic mercury in seawater by the bare-eye observation with a visual detection limit of 2.0 ppm for Hg2+ and 10.0 ppm for organic mercury. The success of this study is a useful enlightenment to develop an instrument-free method for an onsite detection of trace inorganic and organic mercury in environment by a bare-eye observation, although the sensitivity of the method is relatively low.

Dataset Information

Plasmonic detection of mercury via amalgam formation on surface-immobilized single Au nanorods.

Publications

Plasmonic detection of mercury via amalgam formation on surface-immobilized single Au nanorods.

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