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King DCP, Watts MJ, Hamilton EM, Mortimer R, Kilgour DPA, Di Bonito M. The present and potential future of aqueous mercury preservation: a review. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE. PROCESSES & IMPACTS 2023; 25:351-363. [PMID: 36723022 DOI: 10.1039/d2em00409g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Mercury is considered to be one of the most toxic elements to humans. Due to pollution from industry and artisanal gold mining, mercury species are present globally in waters used for agriculture, aquaculture, and drinking water. This review summarises methods reported for preserving mercury species in water samples and highlights the associated hazards and issues with each. This includes the handling of acids in an uncontrolled environment, breakage of sample containers, and the collection and transport of sample volumes in excess of 1 L, all of which pose difficulties for both in situ collection and transportation. Literature related to aqueous mercury preservation from 2000-2021 was reviewed, as well as any commonly cited and relevant references. Amongst others, solid-phase extraction techniques were explored for preservation and preconcentration of total and speciated mercury in water samples. Additionally, the potential as a safe, in situ preservation and storage method for mercury species were summarised. The review highlighted that the stability of mercury is increased when adsorbed on a solid-phase and therefore the metal and its species can be preserved without the need for hazardous reagents or materials in the field. The mercury species can then be eluted upon return to a laboratory, where sensitive analytical detection and speciation methods can be better applied. Developments in solid phase extraction as a preservation method for unstable metals such as mercury will improve the quality of representative environmental data, and further improve toxicology and environmental monitoring studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C P King
- Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
- Inorganic Geochemistry Facility, Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK.
| | - Michael J Watts
- Inorganic Geochemistry Facility, Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK.
| | - Elliott M Hamilton
- Inorganic Geochemistry Facility, Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, UK.
| | | | | | - Marcello Di Bonito
- Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK
- Unversità di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Zhang B, Petcher S, Gao H, Yan P, Cai D, Fleming G, Parker DJ, Chong SY, Hasell T. Magnetic sulfur-doped carbons for mercury adsorption. J Colloid Interface Sci 2021; 603:728-737. [PMID: 34229116 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.06.129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 06/05/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Mercury pollution is a significant threat to the environment and health worldwide. Therefore, effective and low-cost absorbents that are easily scalable are needed for real-world applications. Enlarging the surface area of the materials and doping with heteroatoms are two of the most common strategies to cope with this problem. Sulfur-doped activated carbon synthesized from the carbonization of inverse vulcanized thiopolymers makes it possible to combine both large specific surface area and doping of heteroatoms, resulting in outperformance in mercury uptake against commercial activated carbons. Convenient recovery of mercury absorbents after treatment should be beneficial in mercury collecting and recycling. Therefore, magnetic sulfur-doped carbons (MSCs) were prepared by functionalizing sulfur doped carbons through chemical precipitation with magnetic iron oxides. Besides the characterisations of materials, mercury uptake experiments, such as stactic test, capacity test, impact of solution pH, and mixed ions interferences were performed. These MSCs exhibit high specific surface area (1,329 m2/g), high sulfur content (up to 14.8 wt%), porous structure, low cost, and are convenient for retrieval. MSCs are demonstrated high uptake capacity (187 mg g-1) and efficiency in mercury solution and multifunctional absorption in mixed ions solution, showing their potential to be applied in water purification and environmental remediation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bowen Zhang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Samuel Petcher
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Hui Gao
- Department of Chemistry and Materials Innovation Factory University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Peiyao Yan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Diana Cai
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - George Fleming
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Douglas J Parker
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Samantha Y Chong
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK
| | - Tom Hasell
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool L69 7ZD, UK; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Gansu International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Water-Retention Chemical Functional Materials, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
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Mavaei M, Chahardoli A, Fattahi A, Khoshroo A. A Simple Method for Developing a Hand-Drawn Paper-Based Sensor for Mercury; Using Green Synthesized Silver Nanoparticles and Smartphone as a Hand-Held-Device for Colorimetric Assay. GLOBAL CHALLENGES (HOBOKEN, NJ) 2021; 5:2000099. [PMID: 33854790 PMCID: PMC8025396 DOI: 10.1002/gch2.202000099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Mercury ions are highly toxic at trace levels, and its pollution has posed a significant threat to the environment and public health, where current detection methods mainly require laborious operation and expensive instrumentation. Herein, a simple, cost-effective, instrument-free approach for selective detection of Hg2+ based on a hand-drawn paper-based naked-eye colorimetric device is developed. To develop a hand-drawn paper-based device, a crayon is used to build hydrophobic barriers and a paper puncher is applied to obtain patterns as a sensing zone. A green method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) is applied using Achillea Wilhelmsii (Aw) extract. The sensing ability of Aw-AgNPs toward Hg2+ is investigated in both solution-phase and paper substrate loaded with Aw-AgNPs using colorimetric methods. For the paper-based sensor, the quantification of the target relies on the visual readout of a color-changed sensing zone modified with Aw-AgNPs. Under optimal conditions, the color of Aw-AgNPs in aqueous solution and on the coated paper substrate can change from brown to colorless upon addition of target, with a detection limit of 28 × 10-9 m and 0.30 × 10-6 m, respectively. In conclusion, the present study indicates the potential of this hand-drawn eco-friendly paper-based sensor for monitoring of mercury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryamosadat Mavaei
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research CenterHealth instituteKermanshah University of Medical SciencesKermanshah6715847141Iran
| | - Azam Chahardoli
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research CenterHealth instituteKermanshah University of Medical SciencesKermanshah6715847141Iran
| | - Ali Fattahi
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research CenterHealth instituteKermanshah University of Medical SciencesKermanshah6715847141Iran
- Medical Biology Research CenterKermanshah University of Medical SciencesKermanshah6715847141Iran
- Present address:
Center for Applied NanoBioscience and MedicineCollege of Medicine PhoenixUniversity of ArizonaPhoenixAZUnited States
| | - Alireza Khoshroo
- Pharmaceutical Sciences Research CenterHealth instituteKermanshah University of Medical SciencesKermanshah6715847141Iran
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