Using Gold Nanoparticles as Passive Sampler for Indoor Monitoring of Gaseous Elemental Mercury

Santos, Elias de Barros; Ferlin, Stacy; Fostier, Anne Hélène; Mazali, Ítalo Odone

doi:10.21577/0103-5053.20160290

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…On the other hand, the amalgamation between Au and Hg is also considered as an effective alternative strategy to design mercury samplers, even if it is not very popular since more expensive [ 28 ]. However, a large variety of materials based on nanotechnology have already been applied for this purpose, even if the state of art in those nanomaterial-based passive samplers is still in the early stages [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Sampling rate and adsorption capacity are the two key factors to evaluate the performance of a passive sampler.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Sampling of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Based on a Composite TiO2NP/AuNP Layer

et al. 2018

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Passive sampling systems (PASs) are a low cost strategy to quantify Hg levels in air over both different environmental locations and time periods of few hours to weeks/months. For this reason, novel nanostructured materials have been designed and developed. They consist of an adsorbent layer made of titania nanoparticles (TiO2NPs, ≤25 nm diameter) finely decorated with gold nanoparticles. The TiO2NPs functionalization occurred for the photocatalytic properties of titania-anatase when UV-irradiated in an aqueous solution containing HAuCl4. The resulting nanostructured suspension was deposited by drop-casting on a thin quartz slices, dried and then incorporated into a common axial sampler to be investigated as a potential PAS device. The morphological characteristics of the sample were studied by High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and Optical Microscopy. UV-Vis spectra showed a blue shift of the membrane when exposed to Hg0 vapors. The adsorbed mercury was thermally desorbed for a few minutes, and then quantified by a mercury vapor analyzer. Such a sampling system reported an efficiency of adsorption that was equal to ≈95%. Temperature and relative humidity only mildly affected the membrane performances. These structures seem to be promising candidates for mercury samplers, due to both the strong affinity of gold with Hg, and the wide adsorbing surface.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive Sampling of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Based on a Composite TiO2NP/AuNP Layer

et al. 2018

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“…The operation of the equipment is described in more detail in Santos et al . (2016) 41 . Calibration curves were constructed for the medium and the shorter path lengths by triple analyses of 10 to 600 μL aliquots of Hg standard solutions (10.0, 100.0 or 1000.0 μg L −1 depending on the desired final amount of Hg) prepared from a stock Hg standard solution (1.000 ± 0.003 mg mL −1 ) (Tec-Lab ® Hexis, Jundiaí, Brazil) diluted in a 10% (v/v) HNO 3 solution.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proof of concept for a passive sampler for monitoring of gaseous elemental mercury in artisanal gold mining

Santos

Moher

Ferlin

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Mercury emissions from artisanal gold mining operations occurring in roughly 80 developing countries are a major workplace health hazard for millions of people as well as the largest contributor to global mercury pollution. There are no portable, cheap, and rapid methods able to inform workers or health practitioners of mercury exposure on site in remote locations. In this work, a proof of concept for a miniaturized mercury sampler, prepared by the direct reduction of gold into the porous nanostructures of Vycor glass (PVG), is introduced. Mercury retention on the PVG/Au sampler induces significant color changes, due to the formation of Au-Hg amalgam that affects the surface plasmon resonance characteristics of the material. The color change can potentially be quantified by the analysis of pictures obtained with a cell phone camera rapidly and onsite. Laboratory experiments showed the viability of using PVG/Au as passive sampler for monitoring of Hg°. PVG/Au samplers were then deployed in an artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) operations in Burkina Faso and it was able to indicate personal mercury exposures. The amount of mercury quantified in the samplers for all miners was higher than the current personal exposure limit set by the US Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

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“…However, since the analytical method to measure the adsorbed mercury is digestion, these adsorbing materials are disposable. Samplers based on gold materials in thin films [ 12 , 31 , 32 ] or nanoparticles (NPs) [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] have been developed and used in both active [ 12 , 38 ] and passive mercury samplers [ 31 , 33 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] for TGM monitoring. The high affinity between mercury and gold enables the uptake of little concentrations of mercury species upon amalgam formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Performances of a Nanostructured Material for Passive Samplers of Gaseous Hg

Avossa

Cesare

Papa

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Passive air samplers (PASs) have been used for mapping gaseous mercury concentration in extensive areas. In this work, an easy-to-use and -prepare gold nanoparticle (NP)-based PAS has been investigated. The PAS is constituted of a microfibrous quartz disk filter impregnated of gold NP photo-growth on TiO2 NPs (Au@TiO2) and used as gaseous mercury adsorbing material. The disk was housed in a cylinder glass container and subjected to an axial diffusive sampling. The adsorbed mercury was measured by thermal desorption using a Tekran® instrument. Different amounts of Au@TiO2 (ranging between 4.0 and 4.0 × 10−3 mg) were deposited by drop-casting onto the fibrous substrate and assessed for about 1 year of deployment in outdoor environment with a mercury concentration mean of about 1.24 ± 0.32 ng/m3 in order to optimize the adsorbing layer. PASs showed a linear relation of the adsorbed mercury as a function of time with a rate of 18.5 ± 0.4 pg/day (≈1.5% of the gaseous concentration per day). However, only the PAS with 4 mg of Au@TiO2, provided with a surface density of about 3.26 × 10−2 mg/mm2 and 50 μm thick inside the fibrous quartz, kept stability in working, with a constant sampling rate (SR) (0.0138 ± 0.0005 m3/day) over an outdoor monitoring experimental campaign of about 1 year. On the other hand, higher sampling rates have been found when PASs were deployed for a few days, making these tools also effective for one-day monitoring. Furthermore, these PASs were used and re-used after each thermal desorption to confirm the chance to reuse such structured layers within their samplers, thus supporting the purpose to design inexpensive, compact and portable air pollutant sampling devices, ideal for assessing both personal and environmental exposures. During the whole deployment, PASs were aided by simultaneous Tekran® measurements.

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Using Gold Nanoparticles as Passive Sampler for Indoor Monitoring of Gaseous Elemental Mercury

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Passive Sampling of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Based on a Composite TiO2NP/AuNP Layer

Passive Sampling of Gaseous Elemental Mercury Based on a Composite TiO2NP/AuNP Layer

Proof of concept for a passive sampler for monitoring of gaseous elemental mercury in artisanal gold mining

Characteristics and Performances of a Nanostructured Material for Passive Samplers of Gaseous Hg

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