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A simple colorimetric method based on “on–off–on” mode for detection of H2S and Hg2+ in water

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Abstract

It is of great significance to develop efficient platforms for the detection of hypertoxic Hg2+ and H2S. Colorimetric have received much attention for the detection of H2S and Hg2+ in the last decades. In this work, an “on–off–on” mode colorimetric method based on MnO2/multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MnO2/MWCNTs) composite was constructed. MnO2/MWCNTs composite can oxidize TMB directly to form blue product (ox TMB) with a good simulated oxidase activity. In the presence of H2S, it can decompose the MnO2/MWCNTs composite causing the absorbance of the chromogenic system to decrease. When Hg2+ is introduced, the formation of Hg–S bond between Hg2+ and H2S inhibited the decomposition ability of H2S toward MnO2 composite, thus resulting in a color change from colorless to blue. Based on this phenomenon, the proposed “on–off–on” colorimetric sensor can be used for detection of H2S (off) and Hg2+ (on). Under optimized experimental conditions, this sensor showed a satisfactory linear relationship of H2S and Hg2+ with pleasant repeatability, acceptable method accuracy and stability. More importantly, the proposed colorimetric sensor has been successfully applied to the detection of H2S and Hg2+ in real samples, which not only provides a simple and cost-effective method to detect H2S and Hg2+ but also hopefully makes a certain contribution to environmental protection.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21864007, 21605029), Guizhou Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Qian Ke He Ji Chu [2020] 1Y042, [2017] 5788 Qian Ke He Platform for Talents, [2018]5781 Qian Ke He Platform for Talents).

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  1. Guizhou Engineering Laboratory for Synthetic Drugs (Ministry of Education of Guizhou Province), College of Pharmacy, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China

    Lixia Su, Xue Zhang, Yonghuan Su & Bingqian Liu

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  1. Lixia Su
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  2. Xue Zhang
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  3. Yonghuan Su
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  4. Bingqian Liu
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Correspondence to Bingqian Liu.

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Su, L., Zhang, X., Su, Y. et al. A simple colorimetric method based on “on–off–on” mode for detection of H2S and Hg2+ in water. ANAL. SCI. 38, 1407–1416 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44211-022-00171-x

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