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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

An Anaerobic Biosensor Assay for the Detection of Mercury and Cadmium
Published on: December 17, 2018
Nanocatalyst/Nanoplasmon-Enabled Detection of Organic Mercury: A One-Minute Visual Test
Paolo Donati1,2, Mauro Moglianetti1,3, Marina Veronesi4
1Nanobiointeractions&Nanodiagnostics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego 30, 16163, Genova, Italy.
Abstract:
We present a fast and sensitive nanosensor that can detect organic mercury, exploiting the combination of the catalytic and plasmonic properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The method is one-step and completely instrument-free, and has a colorimetric readout clearly detectable by simple visual inspection. The AuNPs catalyze efficient organic mercury reduction to the metallic form (Hg0 ), allowing its nucleation and amalgam formation on particle surface, with consequent aggregation-induced plasmon shift. This leads to very rapid (1 min) and specific colorimetric detection of mercury species. The achieved limit of detection (20 ppb) is compliant with current regulatory limits in food.
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