Spectrophotometric Determination of Hg2+ Ions Using Sols of Silver Nanoparticles Modified with Cysteamine.

The reduction of silver nitrate with sodium borohydride in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide yielded stable sols of silver nanoparticles. Their subsequent treatment with cysteamine hydrochloride led to the chemical modification of the surface. Both initial and modified sols were used for the determination of Hg²⁺ ions in an aqueous medium. The limit of detection for the analyte and the linearity range of the analytical signal for the initial silver sols are lower in comparison with the analogues modified with cysteamine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]