Plasmonic Nano Silver: An Efficient Colorimetric Sensor for the Selective Detection of Hg2+ Ions in Real Samples

Environmental pollution caused by heavy metal ions has become a major health problem across the world. In this study, selective colorimetric sensor based on starch functionalized silver nanoparticles (St-Ag NPs) for rapid detection of Hg2+ in real samples was developed. The environmentally friendly green approach utilized to synthesize (St-AgNPs). A multi-technique involving UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) used characterization St-Ag NPs. These AgNPs were tested metals at 25 °C. screening process revealed clear changes color intensity only presence due redox reaction between Ag0 Hg2+. remain unchanged all other ion. proposed method strong selectivity sensitivity ions, with limit 1 ppm UV-visible spectrophotometry. procedure found be successful tap water.