Detection of mercury(II) ions using colorimetric gold nanoparticles on paper-based analytical devices

An on-field colorimetric sensing strategy employing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and a paper-based analytical platform was investigated for mercury ion (Hg²⁺) detection at water sources. By utilizing thymine-Hg ²⁺-thymine (T-Hg²⁺-T) coordination chemistry, label-free detection oligonucleotide sequences were attached to unmodified gold nanoparticles to provide rapid mercury ion sensing without complicated and time-consuming thiolated or other costly labeled probe preparation processes. Not only is this strategy's sensing mechanism specific toward Hg²⁺, rather than other metal ions, but also the conformational change in the detection oligonucleotide sequences introduces different degrees of AuNP aggregation that causes the color of AuNPs to exhibit a mixture variance. To eliminate the use of sophisticated equipment and minimize the power requirement for data analysis and transmission, the color variance of multiple detection results were transferred and concentrated on cellulose-based paper analytical devices, and the data were subsequently transmitted for the readout and storage of results using cloud computing via a smartphone. As a result, a detection limit of 50 nM for Hg²⁺ spiked pond and river water could be achieved. Furthermore, multiple tests could be performed simultaneously with a 40 min turnaround time. These results suggest that the proposed platform possesses the capability for sensitive and high-throughput on-site mercury pollution monitoring in resource-constrained settings.