[Colorimetric detection of trace mercury in mineral water via cloud-pointextraction coupled with gold nanoparticle...

To developed a method for rapid visual and colorimetric detection of trace high toxicity element mercury( Hg~(2+)) in natural mineral water via coupling cloud-point extraction with gold nanoparticle probe.

The concentration of Hg~(2+)was quantified via the color degree of the Triton X-114 phase. The functionalized gold nanoparticle probe was synthesized and purified. 200 μL gold nanoparticle probe was added into 10 mL water sample( pH 7. 5), coupled with 400 μL, 5 % Triton X-114 solution. The Hg~(2+) in water could be qualitative and quantitative analyzed according the color by naked eye or colorimetric determination.

Under the optimized condition, the detection limit was 5 μg/L Hg~(2+)in aqueous solution by naked eye. The proposed method has a linear range of 0-50 μg/L, a correlation coefficient( r)of 0. 9945, and a detection limit of 1. 8 μg/L for colorimetric determination. The results determined by the colorimetric method were excellent agreed with the concentrations determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method.

This result indicated that the proposed method is convenience, sensitive and can be applied in the rapid, on site detection of Hg~(2+)in mineral water.