Silver Nanoparticles for Colorimetric Detection and Discrimination of Mercury Ions in Lake Water

Abstract As the most toxic heavy metal, mercury (Hg) has been considered as the greatest environmental threat and it reach ubiquitous in industrial waste water and extended to environment. The detection of Hg 2+ in environmental water is a crucial work for both protecting the environment and human health. Colorimetric assay exhibits visual discriminating and simple readout. This work presents the selective sensing of metal ion (Hg 2+ ) by silver particles (Ag NPs), which were functionalized by galactosamine and synthesized via simple one pot method, with the average particle diameter of 18.75±0.49 nm. The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated as low as 7.92 nM. The colorimetric probe can also be performed in real water sample with good selectivity, and recovery was found to be 95–102 %, indicating can be used for on‐line determination of Hg 2+ in the complex aqueous solutions. Additionally, the good catalytic performance of Ag NPs was demonstrated by hydrogenation of p‐nitrophenol and potassium ferricyanide in water samples.