title: Hg(II) ion detection using thermally reduced graphene oxide decorated with functionalized gold nanoparticles.
abstract: Fast and accurate detection of aqueous contaminants is of significant importance as these contaminants raise serious risks for human health and the environment. Mercury and its compounds are highly toxic and can cause various illnesses; however, current mercury detectors suffer from several disadvantages, such as slow response, high cost, and lack of portability. Here, we report field-effect transistor (FET) sensors based on thermally reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with thioglycolic acid (TGA) functionalized gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) (or rGO/TGA-AuNP hybrid structures) for detecting mercury(II) ions in aqueous solutions. The lowest mercury(II) ion concentration detected by the sensor is 2.5 × 10(-8) M. The drain current shows rapid response within less than 10 s after the solution containing Hg(2+) ions was added to the active area of the rGO/TGA-AuNP hybrid sensors. Our work suggests that rGO/TGA-AuNP hybrid structures are promising for low-cost, portable, real-time, heavy metal ion detectors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3200 North Cramer Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211, USA.
authors.forename: Kehung
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ganhua
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jingbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Shun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Kehan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Shumao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Junhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen