Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A paper-based optical probe for chromium by using gold nanoparticles modified with 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid and smartphone camera readout

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Microchimica Acta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A paper based analytical device is presented for the determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid. The modified AuNPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, energy dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Cr(III) ions induce the aggregation of the modified AuNPs, and the color of the nanoprobe changes from red to blue. This can be detected visually, or by colorimetry, or with a camera. No interference is observed in the presence of 19 other cations and anions. Cr(VI) (chromate) can be determined by after reduction to Cr(III) by using ascorbic acid and then quantified total Cr(III). The concentration of Cr(VI) is obtained by subtracting the concentration of Cr(III) from that of total chromium. Under optimal conditions, the ratio of the absorbances measured at 670 (blue) and 522 (red) increases linearly in the 1.0 nM to 22.1 μM chromium concentration range, with 0.66 nM (0.034 ppb) limit of detection (LOD) in solution. In case of the paper device, the linear range extends from 1.0 nM to 0.1 mM, and the LOD is 0.64 nM (0.033 ppb). The method was applied to the determination of chromium in spiked water, urine and dilutes human plasma, and results were confirmed by GF-AAS analysis. This method is highly selective, fast and portable, requires minimum volume of reagents and samples and no washing steps.

A paper based analytical device is presented for determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) using gold nanoparticles modified with 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid. In paper optical probe, linear range and limit of detection are 1.0 nM to 0.1 mM and 0.64 nM, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of total chromium in spiked water, urine and dilutes human plasma, and results were confirmed by GF-AAS analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Scheme 1
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Biswas P, Karn AK, Balasubramanian P, Kale PG (2017) Biosensor for detection of dissolved chromium in potable water: a review. Biosens Bioelectron 94:589–604

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Cárdenas-González M, Osorio-Yáñez C, Gaspar-Ramírez O, Pavković M, Ochoa-Martínez A, López-Ventura D, Medeiros M, Barbier OC, Pérez-Maldonado IN, Sabbisetti VS, Bonventre JV (2016) Environmental exposure to arsenic and chromium in children is associated with kidney injury molecule-1. Environ Res 150:653–662

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. López-García I, Muñoz-Sandoval MJ, Hernández-Córdoba M (2017) Cloud point microextraction involving graphene oxide for the speciation of very low amounts of chromium in waters. Talanta 172:8–14

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Araujo-Barbosa U, Peña-Vazquez E, Barciela-Alonso MC, Ferreira SLC, dos Santos AMP, Bermejo-Barrera P (2017) Simultaneous determination and speciation analysis of arsenic and chromium in iron supplements used for iron-deficiency anemia treatment by HPLC-ICP-MS. Talanta 170:523–529

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Peng G, He Q, Lu Y, Huang J, Lin JM (2017) Flow injection microfluidic device with on-line fluorescent derivatization for the determination of Cr (III) and Cr (VI) in water samples after solid phase extraction. Anal Chim Acta 955:58–66

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Alizadeh T, Rafiei F, Hamidi N, Ganjali MR (2017) A new electrochemical sensing platform for Cr (III) determination based on nano-structured Cr (III)-imprinted polymer-modified carbon composite electrode. Electrochim Acta 247:812–819

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Mohammadi S, Khayatian G (2015) Highly selective and sensitive photometric creatinine assay using silver nanoparticles. Microchim Acta 182:1379–1386

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Leng Y, Li Y, Gong A, Shen Z, Chen L, Wu A (2013) Colorimetric response of dithizone product and hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide modified gold nanoparticle dispersion to 10 types of heavy metal ions: understanding the involved molecules from experiment to simulation. Langmuir 29:7591–7599

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Guo L, Xu Y, Ferhan AR, Chen G, Kim DH (2013) Oriented gold nanoparticle aggregation for colorimetric sensors with surprisingly high analytical figures of merit. J Am Chem Soc 135:12338–12345

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Lu Y, Liu Y, Zhang S, Wang S, Zhang S, Zhang X (2013) Aptamer-based plasmonic sensor array for discrimination of proteins and cells with the naked eye. Anal Chem 85:6571–6574

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Sang F, Li X, Zhang Z, Liu J, Chen G (2018) Recyclable colorimetric sensor of Cr3+ and Pb2+ ions simultaneously using a zwitterionic amino acid modified gold nanoparticles. Spectrochim Acta A 193:109–116

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Yu Y, Hong Y, Wang Y, Sun X, Liu B (2017) Mercaptosuccinic acid modified gold nanoparticles as colorimetric sensor for fast detection and simultaneous identification of Cr3+. Sensors Actuators B Chem 239:865–873

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Shahrivari S, Faridbod F, Ganjali MR (2018) Highly selective and sensitive colorimetric determination of Cr3+ ion by 4-amino-5-methyl-4H-1, 2, 4-triazole-3-thiol functionalized au nanoparticles. Spectrochim Acta A 191:189–194

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Shellaiah M, Simon T, Venkatesan P, Sun KW, Ko FH, Wu SP (2018) Nanodiamonds conjugated to gold nanoparticles for colorimetric detection of clenbuterol and chromium (III) in urine. Microchim Acta 185:74

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Guo JF, Huo DQ, Yang M, Hou CJ, Li JJ, Fa HB, Luo HB, Yang P (2016) Colorimetric detection of Cr (VI) based on the leaching of gold nanoparticles using a paper-based sensor. Talanta 161:819–825

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Martinez AW, Phillips ST, Butte MJ, Whitesides GM (2007) Patterned paper as a platform for inexpensive, low-volume, portable bioassays. Angew Chem Int Ed 46:1318–1320

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Pourreza N, Golmohammadi H, Rastegarzadeh S (2016) Highly selective and portable chemosensor for mercury determination in water samples using curcumin nanoparticles in a paper based analytical device. RSC Adv 6:69060–69066

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Pourreza N, Golmohammadi H (2015) Application of curcumin nanoparticles in a lab-on-paper device as a simple and green pH probe. Talanta 131:136–141

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Hosu O, Ravalli A, Piccolo GML, Cristea C, Sandulescu R, Marrazza G (2017) Smartphone-based immunosensor for CA125 detection. Talanta 166:234–240

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Meredith NA, Quinn C, Cate DM, Reilly TH, Volckens J, Henry CS (2016) Paper based analytical devices for environmental analysis. Analyst 141:1874–1887

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Devoy J, Géhin A, Müller S, Melczer M, Remy A, Antoine G, Sponne I (2016) Evaluation of chromium in red blood cells as an indicator of exposure to hexavalent chromium: an in vitro study. Toxicol Lett 255:63–70

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Tsai TL, Kuo CC, Pan WH, Chung YT, Chen CY, Wu TN, Wang SL (2017) The decline in kidney function with chromium exposure is exacerbated with co-exposure to lead and cadmium. Kidney Int 92:710–720

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Li Y, Wu P, Xu H, Zhang Z, Zhong X (2011) Highly selective and sensitive visualizable detection of Hg2+ based on anti-aggregation of gold nanoparticles. Talanta 84:508–512

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Liu Y, Wang X (2013) Colorimetric speciation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) with a gold nanoparticle probe. Anal Methods 5:1442–1448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Clesceri LS, Greenberg AE, Eaton AD (1998) Standard method for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th edn. United Book Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  26. Cerda V, Casassas E, Borrull F, Esteban M (1982) Thermometric behaviour of (methylthio) acetic, thiodiacetic and 3, 3′-thiodipropanoic acids. Thermochim Acta 55:1–10

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Langevin D, Raspaud E, Mariot S, Knyazev A, Stocco A, Salonen A, Luch A, Haase A, Trouiller B, Relier C, Lozano O (2018) Towards reproducible measurement of nanoparticle size using dynamic light scattering: important controls and considerations. NanoImpact 10:161–167

  28. Chen W, Cao F, Zheng W, Tian Y, Xianyu Y, Xu P, Zhang W, Wang Z, Deng K, Jiang X (2015) Detection of the nanomolar level of total Cr [(III) and (VI)] by functionalized gold nanoparticles and a smartphone with the assistance of theoretical calculation models. Nanoscale 7:2042–2049

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Jin W, Huang P, Chen Y, Wu F, Wan Y (2015) Colorimetric detection of Cr3+ using gold nanoparticles functionalized with 4-amino hippuric acid. J Nanopart Res 17:358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Wang X, Wei Y, Wang S, Chen L (2015) Red-to-blue colorimetric detection of chromium via Cr(III)-citrate chelating based on tween 20-stabilized gold nanoparticles. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 472:57–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Li S, Wei T, Ren G, Chai F, Wu H, Qu F (2017) Gold nanoparticles based colorimetric probe for Cr(III) and Cr(VI) detection. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 535:215–224

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Tahmasebi Z, Davarani SSH (2016) Selective and sensitive speciation analysis of Cr(VI) and Cr(III), at sub-μg L−1 levels in water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after electromembrane extraction. Talanta 161:640–646

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Elavarasi M, Rajeshwari A, Chandrasekaran N, Mukherjee A (2013) Simple colorimetric detection of Cr(III) in aqueous solutions by as synthesized citrate capped gold nanoparticles and development of a paper based assay. Anal Methods 5:6211–6218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Bhatt R, Bhatt R, Padmaja P (2018) DTPA capped gold and silver nanofluids-facile synthesis and their application as chromium sensors. Sensor Actuat B-Chem 258:602–611

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Rahbar N, Salehnezhad Z, Hatamie A, Babapour A (2018) Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets as a fluorescent probe for chromium speciation. Microchim Acta 185:101

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the financial support of the University of Kurdistan for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kurdistan, P.O. Box 416, Sanandaj, 66177-15175, Iran

    Shadab Faham, Gholamreza Khayatian & Raouf Ghavami

  2. Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Research Center of Iran, Tehran, 14335-186, Iran

    Hamed Golmohammadi

Authors
  1. Shadab Faham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gholamreza Khayatian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hamed Golmohammadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Raouf Ghavami
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gholamreza Khayatian.

Ethics declarations

The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 344 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Faham, S., Khayatian, G., Golmohammadi, H. et al. A paper-based optical probe for chromium by using gold nanoparticles modified with 2,2′-thiodiacetic acid and smartphone camera readout. Microchim Acta 185, 374 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2875-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2875-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation