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Highly sensitive colorimetric determination of nitrite based on the selective etching of concave gold nanocubes

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Abstract

Concave gold nanocubes are viable optical nanoprobes for the determination of nitrite ions. Herein, a novel approach was developed, based on the measurement of localized surface plasmon resonance absorption. The addition of nitrite ions selectively induced the etching of concave gold nanocubes, abrading the sharp vertices to spherical corners, which resulted in blue-shifted absorption accompanied by a color change from sapphire blue to light violet. The mechanism of selective etching of concave gold nanocube tips was elucidated by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atom probe tomography. The optimized detection of NO2− via the concave gold nanocube-based probe occurred at pH 3.0 and in 20 mM NaCl concentration at 40 °C. The absorption ratios (A550 nm/A640 nm) were proportional to the NO2− concentrations in the range 0.0–30 μM, with a detection limit of 38 nM (limit of quantitation of 0.12 μM and precision of 2.7%) in tap water. The highly selective and sensitive colorimetric assay has been successfully applied to monitor the nitrite ion concentrations in spiked tap water, pond water, commercial ham, and sausage samples.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (2E31283 and 2E31380).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Agenda Research Division, Korea Institute of Science & Technology, Hwarang-ro 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Su-Jin Yoon & Kang-Bong Lee

  2. University of Science and Technology, Gajeong-ro 217, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea

    Su-Jin Yoon & Kang-Bong Lee

  3. Advanced Analysis Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Yun-Sik Nam, Ji Young Lee & Yeonhee Lee

  4. Center for Pure Atmosphere Research, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hwarangno 14-gil 5, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea

    Jin Young Kim

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  1. Su-Jin Yoon
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Correspondence to Yeonhee Lee or Kang-Bong Lee.

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Yoon, SJ., Nam, YS., Lee, J.Y. et al. Highly sensitive colorimetric determination of nitrite based on the selective etching of concave gold nanocubes. Microchim Acta 188, 132 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04772-7

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