A highly sensitive and selective resonance Rayleigh scattering method for Hg2+ based on the nanocatalytic amplification.

In 0.2 mol/L HCl–0.22 mol/L HNO 3 medium, trace Hg²⁺ catalyzed NaH 2 PO 2 reduction of HAuCl 4 to form gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), which exhibited a strong resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) effect at 370 nm. With increasing of [Hg²⁺], the RRS effect enhanced due to more AuNP generated from the catalytic reaction. Under the chosen conditions, the enhanced RRS intensity at 370 nm is linear to Hg²⁺ concentration in the range of 5.0–450 × 10⁻⁹ mol/L, with a detection limit of 0.1 nmol/L. This RRS method was applied for the determination of Hg in water samples, with high sensitivity and good selectivity, and its results were agreement with that of atomic fluorescence spectrometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]