Rapid and highly selective colorimetric detection of mercury(II) ions in water sources based on a ribavirin functionalized AuNP sensor

Solvated mercuric ions (Hg2+), a toxic and harmful water pollutant, can easily accumulate in organisms and cause serious damage to the kidney, liver, and central nervous system. To realize rapid and efficient detection of mercury (II) ions in water sources, a kind of new colorimetric sensor of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with ribavirin (Rib-AuNPs) was proposed and characterized by TEM, DLS, XRD, and UV-vis in this work. The color of the Rib-AuNP solution rapidly changed from wine-red to gray-blue with the addition of Hg2+ based on the aggregation mechanism. The limits of detection (LODs) are 0.20 μM by the naked eye and 3.64 nM by UV-vis spectroscopy with a fine linear relationship in the range of 0–0.25 μM (R2 = 0.9834) and 0.25–0.80 μM (R2 = 0.9893) of Hg2+, indicating that the detection system of Rib-AuNPs could be applied to analyze Hg2+ with excellent selectivity and anti-interference in real water samples.