Portable smartphone-based device for on-site detection of Hg²⁺ in water samples

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a smartphone-based portable device was designed for on-site and real-time detection of Hg²⁺ concentration levels in water samples. A rhodaminespirolactam-based derivative3ʹ,6ʹ-bis(diethylamino)-2-((3,4,5-trimethoxybenzylidene)amino)spiro[isoindoline-1,9ʹ-xanthen]-3-one, which had selective response to Hg²⁺,was used as Off-On fluorescent probe. The enhanced emission was observed by a high-pixel camera integrated on the smartphone. The grey value was analysed by an android/apple application ‘Detection’, and showed good linearly with Hg²⁺ concentration ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 μg/ml. The limit of detection (LODs) was found at 0.9 μg/l, which was sensitive enough to detect Hg²⁺ in industrial wastewater and drinking water. The accuracy of the proposed method was validated by reference Hg²⁺ solution, and the result was in good agreement with the certified value. Compared with cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry, atomic absorption spectrophotometry methods and fluorescence method, etc., the developed platform is simpler, cost-less and portable for on-site and real-time application, and can be used for sharing of in-field sensing data from any remote location to the central water quality monitoring station.

KEYWORDS:

• Hg²⁺
• smartphone
• rhodaminespirolactam-based derivative
• on-site analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

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Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province of China (2018B020208005), Social Science and Technology Development Key Project of Dongguan of China (2019507101162) and Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund, CAFS (2019ZD0804);Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund [2019ZD0804];Science and Technology Program of Dongguan, China [2019507101162].