Salvia tilifolia LEAF EXTRACT-BASED SILVER NANOPARTICLES FOR COLORIMETRIC DETECTION OF Hg(II) IN SELECTED FOOD, COSMETICS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES

Abstract

In the present research, we report easy, quick, ultrasensitive, inexpensive, and eco-friendly colorimetric sensor using green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The AgNPs were biosynthesized utilizing Salvia tilifolia leaf extract and well characterized by various techniques, and then employed to design a colorimetric assay for Hg(II) sensing in food, cosmetics, and environmental samples. The developed colorimetric sensor found very sensitive and specific for Hg(II) detecction with limits of detection down to 5.0 nM and 0.27 nM through the naked eye and UV-vis spectrometer detection, respectively. In addition, the method showed good precision (intra- and inter-day RSD values of 2.4% and 4.9%, respectively) with linearity of R2 = 0.9984 over the 0.1–100 μM interval. Furthermore, the proposed AgNPs-based colorimetric sensors has been succesfully tested for sensing Hg(II) in a variety of real samples, including wastewater effluent, lake water, drinking water, soft drinks, mineral water, beauty cream, and canned light tuna. The percent recovery of the tested samples varied from 86.9 to 110%, demonstrating the method's real world application. In summary, the proposed method is greener, selective and highly sensitive, and recommended for detecting Hg(II) in food, cosmetics, and environmental samples