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Picomolar-level detection of mercury within non-biological/biological aqueous media using ultra-sensitive polyaniline-Fe3O4-silver diethyldithiocarbamate nanostructure

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Abstract

Mercury as the 3rd most toxic, non-biodegradable, and carcinogenic pollutant can adversely affect the ecosystem and health of living species through its bioaccumulation within the nature that can affect the top consumer in the food chain; therefore, it is vital to sense/remove Hg2+ within/from aqueous media using practical approaches. To address this matter, we modified the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with ultra-sensitive, interconnected, sulfurized, and porous nanostructure consisted of polyaniline-Fe3O4-silver diethyldithiocarbamate (PANi-F-S) to enhance the sensitivity, selectivity, and limit of detection (LOD) of the sensor. Obtained results showed that at optimum conditions (i.e., pH value of 7, deposition potential of − 0.8 V, and accumulation time of 120 s), for Hg2+ concentration ranging from 0.4 to 60 nM, the modified electrode showing linear relative coefficient of 0.9983, LOD of 0.051 nM, LOQ of 0.14 nM, and sensitivity of 1618.86 μA μM−1 cm−2 highlights superior sensitivity of the developed platform until picomolar level. Additionally, the modified electrode showed ideal repeatability, stability, reproducibility, and selectivity (by considering Zn2+, Cd2+ Pb2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ as metal interferences) and recovered more than 99% of the Hg2+ ions within non-biological (mineral, tap, and industrial waters) and biological (blood plasma sample) fluids.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Nanofibers and Nanotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119260, Singapore

    Seyyed Alireza Hashemi & Seeram Ramakrishna

  2. Department of Medical Nanotechnology, School of Advanced Medical Sciences and Technologies, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, 71348-14336, Iran

    Seyyed Alireza Hashemi, Seyyed Mojtaba Mousavi, Sonia Bahrani & Seyyed Hamid Hashemi

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, 10607, Taiwan

    Seyyed Mojtaba Mousavi

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  1. Seyyed Alireza Hashemi
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  2. Seyyed Mojtaba Mousavi
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Correspondence to Seyyed Alireza Hashemi.

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The studies have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards and approved through following the protocols of the ethical committee. The human blood plasma sample is provided from the stock of Fars Blood Transfusion Center (Shiraz, Fars, Iran) that was obtained from a healthy volunteer with full consent of donor. The reference and LOT of the supplied human blood plasma sample are MDE650Q and 11275071CM, respectively.

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Hashemi, S.A., Mousavi, S.M., Bahrani, S. et al. Picomolar-level detection of mercury within non-biological/biological aqueous media using ultra-sensitive polyaniline-Fe3O4-silver diethyldithiocarbamate nanostructure. Anal Bioanal Chem 412, 5353–5365 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02750-1

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