Hydrophilic Silver Nanoparticles for Hg(II) Detection in Water: Direct Evidence for Mercury-Silver Interaction
In this work, the electronic and molecular structure, as well as the morphology, of innovative nanostructured materials whose optical properties respond to the presence of heavy metals in water samples was investigated. In particular, the here discussed silver nanoparticles (NPs) stabilized by a hydrophilic ligand (sodium 3-mercapto-1-propanesulfonate, 3MPS) are able to reveal the presence of mercury ions at ppm levels.