A Fluorescent Polymer Coated Sensor Chip for Mercury Ion (Hg²⁺) Determination in Lake Water

Abstract

Novel dansyl chloride-based fluorescent polymer-coated chips (PCFCs) were designed and developed via polymerization of 2-(5-(dimethylamino) naphthalen-1-ylsulfonyloxy)ethyl methacrylate (DNS-EMA) on the surface of a 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (MPS) modified glass slide with a supporting membrane. The chemical linkage of DNS-EMA on PCFC surface was verified by 1 H-NMR, IR, and fluorescence measurements. Particularly, the optimized fluorescent polymer-coated chip (PCFC6) in 1/1 (v/v) acetonitrile /water exhibited higher sensitivity toward Hg 2 + than the other tested metal ions at concentrations ranging from 1.66 μmol/L to 50.6 μmol/L with R 2 = 0.9923. Interestingly, PCFC6 is water-compatible, photostable and exhibits good selectivity to Hg 2 + even at low concentrations compared to other representative metal cations with 89.2-109.9 % recoveries.