Electrochemical synthesis of a gold atomic cluster–chitosan nanocomposite film modified gold electrode for ultra-trace determination of mercury

Abstract

Gold atomic cluster based nanocomposites are important in the field of energy and sensing applications due to their interesting optical, electronic, chemical and catalytic properties. In the present study a chitosan stabilized gold atomic cluster nanocomposite was synthesised by a simple electrochemical technique based on the anodic dissolution of a gold electrode in the presence of a cationic surfactant, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), and a biopolymer, chitosan, on a gold electrode. The gold clusters formed were characterized by DLS, TEM, MALDI-TOF-MS, XPS, fluorescence and cyclic voltammetry. The developed gold atomic cluster-chitosan (AuAC-Chit) nanocomposite modified gold electrode was highly sensitive and selective for the electrochemical detection of Hg(ii) ions. It offers a wider calibration range of 10(-14)-10(-7) M with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.8 × 10(-14) M and a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 6.6 × 10(-14) M, much below the guideline value of 1 × 10(-8) M stipulated by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), accompanied by a good precision of 1.06% for 10(-13) M of Hg(ii). The designed sensor is selective to Hg(ii) ions in the presence of other coexisting species.

A novel, rapid synthetic protocol for controllable sizes, conductivities and monomer units of soluble polypyrrole

“…The detection of Hg 2+ and Cu 2+ ions is a frontier area of research in analytical chemistry and diverse colorimetric [45], fluorimetric [46] and electrochemical [47] techniques exist. What distinguishes the present study is the remarkable ability of the PPy solution to accomplish a qualitative detection and quantitative estimation.…”

Nanomaterials-based electrochemical detection of chemical contaminants

“…100 Aneesh et al 101 demonstrated the electrochemical synthesis of a gold atomic cluster-chitosan nanocomposite lm modied gold electrode for the ultra-trace determination of mercury over a wider calibration range of 1 fM to 0.1 mM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.8 fM. 100 Aneesh et al 101 demonstrated the electrochemical synthesis of a gold atomic cluster-chitosan nanocomposite lm modied gold electrode for the ultra-trace determination of mercury over a wider calibration range of 1 fM to 0.1 mM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.8 fM.…”

A Harmonized Applied and Theoretical Exploration for Nanomolar Level Recognition of Perilous F− and CN− by Multichannel Chemosensor: Proposition of Hg2+‐Mediated Logic Gate Imitator

“…Additionally, potential energy surface (PES) has also been scanned to have a clear inclination regarding the sensoranalyte binding fashion. Moreover, the reversibility of PMA in presence of F À /CN À and Hg 2 + (a toxic heavy metal which causes various fatal diseases, like Minamata disease) [18,[49][50][51][52][53] further incited to originate logic gate circuitry. In addition, a precise literature survey based on the F À and CN À selective chemosensors showed that most of the hitherto reported chemsoensors possess higher detection limit and lower binding constant in compared to PMA and the proposition towards logic gate imitator circuitry is less explored till now.…”