Rapid and Efficient Colorimetric Detection of Mercury (II) Ion by Green Synthesized Silver/Silver Chloride Nanoparticles Using Syzygium Cumini L. Skeels Fruit Extract

Eco-friendly colorimetric sensors have wide applications in environmental science for simple, convenient, and fast detection of various analytes. In this work, a colorimetric sensor based on unmodified silver/silver chloride nanoparticles (Ag@AgCl NPs) was used for simple and fast detection of mercury (II) (Hg2+) ions. The fruit extract of Syzygium cumini was used as a reducing and capping agent for the biosynthesis of Ag@AgCl NPs. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier-Transform InfraRed (FT-IR) spectroscopy to verify the production, morphology, crystallinity, and surface functionalities of the synthesized Ag@AgCl NPs. The brown-yellow solution of the Ag@AgCl NPs synthesized by fruit extract of S. cumini became colorless in the presence of Hg2+ ions. In this procedure, the calibration curve had two linear range (first range from 1.0 to 5.0 μM with R2=0.9941 and second range from 7.0 to 111.0 μM with R2=0.9905). Also, the selectivity of the green synthesized Ag@AgCl NPs was studied to transition, alkali, and alkaline earth metal ions. The proposed method provides fast, simple, sensitive and selective detection and determination of mercury (II) in water samples.