title: Nanogold-Decorated Silica Monoliths as Highly Efficient Solid-Phase Adsorbent for Ultratrace Mercury Analysis in Natural Waters.
abstract: We propose a novel analytical method for mercury (Hg) trace determination based on direct Hg preconcentration from aqueous solution onto a gold nanoparticle-decorated silica monolith (AuNP@SiO2). Detection of Hg is performed after thermal desorption by means of atomic fluorescence spectrometry. This new methodology benefits from reagent-free, time- and cost-saving procedure, due to most efficient solid-phase adsorbent and results in high sensitive quantification. The excellent analytical performance of the whole procedure is demonstrated by a limit of detection as low as 1.31 ng L(-1) for only one-min accumulation duration. A good reproducibility with standard deviations ≤5.4% is given. The feasibility of the approach in natural waters was confirmed by a recovery experiment in spiked seawater with a recovery rate of 101%. Moreover, the presented method was validated through reference analysis of a submarine groundwater discharge sample by cold vapor-atomic fluorescence spectrometry resulting in a very good agreement of the found values. Hence the novel method is a very promising new tool for low-level Hg monitoring in natural waters providing easy-handling on-site preconcentration, reagent-free stabilization as well as reagent-free, highly sensitive detection.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, University of Ulm , Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Geochemistry and Hydrogeology, University of Bremen , Klagenfurter Straße, 28359 Bremen, Germany.|Geosciences Environment Toulouse, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Université Paul Sabatier , 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Lars-Eric
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Heimbürger
authors.affiliation: Geosciences Environment Toulouse, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, Université Paul Sabatier , 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400 Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Jeroen E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Sonke
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Chemistry II, University of Ulm , Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ziller
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Chemistry II, University of Ulm , Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Mika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindén
authors.affiliation: Institute for Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, University of Ulm , Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leopold
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D006046:Gold; D008628:Mercury