Nanoscale Membrane Strips for Benign Sensing of Hg^II Ions: A Route to Commercial Waste Treatments

Abstract

The integration of actively‐functional receptors into nanoscale networks outperformed competent detection devices and other ion‐sensing designs. Synthesis of azo chromophores with long hydrophobic tails showed an ecofriendly sensing and an extreme selectivity for divalent mercury analytes. In order to tailor the tip to HgII ion‐sensing functionality, we manipulated the chromophores into nanoscale membrane discs, which led to small, easy‐to‐use optical sensor strips. The design of these hydrophobic probes into ordered pore‐based membranes transformed the ion‐sensing systems into smart, stable assemblies and portable laboratory assays. The nanosensor membrane strips with chemical and mechanical stability allowed for reversible, stable and reusable detectors without any structural damage, even under rigorous chemical treatment for several numbers of repeated cycles. The optical membrane strips provided HgII ion‐sensing recognition for both cost‐ and energy‐saving systems. Indeed, the synthetic strips proved to have an efficient ability for various analytical applications, targeting especially for on‐site and in situ chemical analyses, and for continuous monitoring of toxic HgII ions. On the proximity‐sensing front, these miniaturized nanomembrane strips can revolutionize the consumer and industrial market with the introduction of the probe surface‐mount naked‐eye ion‐sensor strips.

Radiation synthesized poly(n-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone)-stabilized-gold nanoparticles as LSPR-based optical sensor for mercury ions estimation

“…The methods currently used for the determination of Hg 2? ions include atomic absorption spectrometry (Butler et al 2006), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (Li et al 2006), selective cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry (Leermakers et al 2005), organic fluorophores/chromophores (Zhu et al 2006;Guo et al 2011;El-Safty et al 2008;Coronado et al 2005), semiconductor nanocrystals (Chen et al 2004;Page et al 2011), cyclic voltammetry (Nolan and Kounaves 1999;Kim et al 1998), etc., based techniques. However, most of these conventional techniques are invariably complicated, time-consuming, expensive as well as inconvenient for point-of-use applications.…”

Turn‐on fluorogenic and chromogenic detection of cations in complete water media with poly(N‐vinyl pyrrolidone) bearing rhodamine B derivatives as polymeric chemosensor

“…Considering that higher pH range could lead to hydrolysis for transition metal ions, the proper pH span for poly(VP-GRBE) to sense metal ions in aqueous solution was selected to be around 7.0. [3,20,[39][40][41][42][43] Effects of metal cations on the fluorescence intensity of poly (VP-GRBE)…”

Nanomaterials in the Environment: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

“…Nanoporous silica monolithic structures have been used to develop a Hg 2+ sensor [47] . Membrane strips were created and functionalized with azo chromophores such as 4n -dodecyl -6 -(2 -pyridylazo)phenol.…”