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Highly Selective and Sensitive Sensing of Toxic Mercury Ions Utilizing Carbon Quantum Dot-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

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Abstract

In this paper, a novel synthesis of 1 nm sized metal-free carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and their electrochemical application vis-à-vis mercury (Hg) sensing have been demonstrated. The characterization of synthesized CQDs was done by FT-IR, HR-TEM, XRD and UV–Vis analysis. Furthermore, the CQD-modified electrode shows an excellent sensing ability toward deleterious Hg ion even when 600-fold of excess of interfering ions such as Cu2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ba2+, Bi2+, Fe2+, Zn2+ and Hg2+ are present. A wide linearity range (0.5–300 nM) and the lowest limit of detection (2.5 nM) are exhibited by the proposed sensor with potential scanning from − 0.7 to + 0.7 V vs Ag/AgCl at a scan rate of 20 mV. In addition, the CQD-modified electrode displays an outstanding recovery results toward Hg in various real water samples. This study promotes new possibilities of designing various electrochemical sensors based on CQD nanocomposite.

ArticleHighlights

  • Fast detection of mercury ion by electrochemical method.

  • One-pot synthesis of CQDs from activated carbon obtained from coconut shell.

  • Both selective and sensitive nature of CQD-modified electrode.

  • Anti-interference ability, stability, and reproducibility of the CQD-modified electrode are highly good.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Thiagarajar College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625 009, India

    Rasul Khan Barsana Barvin & Periakaruppan Prakash

  2. Electrodics and Electrocatalysis Division, Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630003, India

    Venkatachalam Ganesh

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Sethu Institute of Technology, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu, 626 115, India

    Balasubramanian Jeyaprabha

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  1. Rasul Khan Barsana Barvin
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  2. Periakaruppan Prakash
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  3. Venkatachalam Ganesh
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  4. Balasubramanian Jeyaprabha
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Correspondence to Periakaruppan Prakash.

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Barvin, R.K.B., Prakash, P., Ganesh, V. et al. Highly Selective and Sensitive Sensing of Toxic Mercury Ions Utilizing Carbon Quantum Dot-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode . Int J Environ Res 13, 1015–1023 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-019-00236-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41742-019-00236-2

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