The silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) complexed with curcumin (CUR) extracted from turmeric (TMR) were synthesized and applied for a simple and rapid colorimetric technique for Pb²⁺ detection. The results reveal that our low-cost and rapid AgNPs-CUR sensor is highly selective for Pb²⁺ ions with the detection limit of 13.6 µM (2.8 mg.L⁻¹) and can be applied for real water samples. Not only the observed absorption spectrum and the solution color can reveal the contamination of Pb²⁺ in the sample, but also an orange floccules precipitate can be clearly observed by naked-eye within 20 min. In addition, the results obtained from DFT calculation agree well with the experiments. Density functional theory (DFT), at the M06 level with mixed basis set of 6-31G(d) and def2-tzvp, was applied to propose the binding mechanism of AgNPs with CUR and AgNPs-CUR with Pb²⁺. Calculated binding energies of the compound of AgNPs with CUR and the AgNPs-CUR with Pb²⁺ are −145.8 and −361.4 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively, indicating that the AgNPs-CUR is strongly interact with Pb²⁺ ions through formation of highly stable Pb²⁺AgNPs-CUR complexes indicating the stable aggregative phenomena which agrees well with FTIR spectrum.

合成了与从姜黄 (TMR) 中提取的姜黄素 (CUR) 复合的银纳米粒子 (AgNP)，并将其应用于一种简单快速的比色技术，用于 Pb ²⁺检测。结果表明，我们的低成本、快速的 AgNPs-CUR 传感器对 Pb ²⁺离子具有高度选择性，检测限为 13.6 µM (2.8 mg.L ^-1 )，可用于实际水样。不仅观察到的吸收光谱和溶液颜色可以揭示 Pb ²⁺的污染在样品中，20分钟内肉眼也能清楚地观察到橙色絮状物沉淀。此外，DFT 计算得到的结果与实验非常吻合。密度泛函理论（DFT），在 M06 水平，具有 6-31G(d) 和 def2-tzvp 的混合基组，被应用于提出 AgNPs 与 CUR 和 AgNPs-CUR 与 Pb ²⁺的结合机制。计算结合与CUR的AgNPs的化合物的能量和的AgNPs-CUR与铅²⁺是-145.8和-361.4千卡摩尔^-1，分别指示的AgNPs-CUR是强烈的相互作用与铅²⁺通过形成高度离子稳定的 Pb ²⁺AgNPs-CUR 复合物表明稳定的聚集现象与 FTIR 光谱非常吻合。