Silver Nanoprism for Selective and Sensitive Detection of Hg⁺² Ions

In this article, we propose high-performance colorimetric detection of Hg⁺² using silver nanoprisms. The spherical and triangular AgNPs were synthesized using varied concentration of NaBH4. Pristine AgNPs without any further modification were used for the detection of various metal ions including Hg²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cl^-, Cd²⁺, Co²⁺, Cu²⁺, Ba²⁺, Pb²⁺, Cr³⁺, Cr₂O^2-₇ , Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺ etc. AgNPs were not only selective in detecting the ions of Cl^- and Hg⁺² ions but also highly sensitive. Minimum detection limit was observed to be as low as 10^-7 ppm for both Hg⁺² and Cl^-. Water samples collected from various locations detected for the presence of various heavy metals. Silver nanoprisms owing to their surface plasmon resonance exhibit highly selective tendency towards detection against Hg⁺².