Modern Chemistry & Applications

Abstract

Chemical Sensor for Determination of Mercury in Contaminated Water

Ahmed Khudhair Hassan

In this research, we constructed chemical sensor for determining mercury in contaminated water because we needed fast, simple, low-cost, and accurate determination of mercury in different environmental systems. The constructed membrane composed of (Poly Vinyl Chloride) PVC as a matrix material, 1,5-diphenylthiocarbazone (dithizone) as electro active compound, and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBPH) as a plasticizer. The optimum membrane composition 30% PVC, 65% DBPH, 5% dithizone exhibited the better Nernstian response. The results showed that probe is high stability along the pH range from (3.5 to 8). The electrode displays a linear log [Hg2+] versus Electromotive Force (EMF) response over a wide concentration range of (5×10−6 to 1×10−2M) with Nernstian slope of 29.7 ± 0.5 mV decade-1and limit of detection 3×10−6 M. The proposed sensor shows relatively high selectivity for mercury ion in different matrix solution, other ions had negligible interference effect on the reading.