Functionalization
of gold nanorod (GNR) with dimercaptosuccinic
acid is reported as a way to develop a sensor, GNR-PEG-DMSA that can
rapidly detect very low concentrations of arsenic contamination in
water and using the paper strip. The sensor is developed by stepwise
chemical conjugations of gold nanorods (GNR) with poly(ethylene glycol)
methyl ether thiol (mPEG-SH) followed by meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic
acid (DMSA). GNR-PEG-DMSA shows a visible color change in the presence
of both inorganic forms of arsenic: AsIII (arsenite) and
AsV (arsenate) ions in solution and on a paper substrate,
because of the ion-induced aggregation of nanorods through an arsenic
complex formation strategy, which is relative to the arsenic concentrations.
Colorimetric and spectroscopic analyses are very much selective for
both AsIII and AsV ions with a detection limit
of ∼1.0 ppb. In addition, the GNR-PEG-DMSA exhibits excellent
potential for quantitative estimation of total arsenic in groundwater
samples. The paper-based sensing method demonstrates the usefulness
in arsenic level screening under field-test mode.
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