Acridine-Thiosemicarbazones-Stabilized Silver Nanoparticles as a Selective Sensor for Copper(II)-Ion in Tap Water

Abstract

Environmental pollution due to heavy metals ions is becoming a serious threat to human health. In this study, we have synthesized acridine-thiosemicarbazones-stabilized silver nanoparticles (AT-AgNPs) to explore their cation sensing ability and selectivity for detection copper(II)-ion in aqueous system. Newly synthesized nanoparticle were characterized using various spectroscopic techniques such as ultraviolet–visible, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Zetasizer. The average size of the highly robust AT-AgNPs was found to be in the range of 70–90 nm. The photophysical potential of AT-AgNPs was explored using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. Addition of copper(II)-ion induce significant quenching in the absorption intensity of AT-AgNPs, whereas all other tested metals did not produce any detectable change in the UV-visible spectrum. Further, the limit of detection (LOD) was determined by employing standard deviation method which is found to be 1 μM with a R2 equal to 0.9931. The synthesized AT-AgNPs were highly selective for copper(II)-ion in presence of other interferents like salts, and other metal ions. Moreover, the AT-AgNPs were effectively and efficiently employed for the same purpose in tap water.