Liquid crystal based sensor system for the real time detection of mercuric ions in water using amphiphilic dithiocarbamate

- A novel LC based sensor was developed for real time detection of Hg2+ ions in water.
- Amphiphile MeDTC aligns LC molecules and also acts as Hg2+ ions specific ligand.
- A dark to bright transition of LC texture was observed in the presence of Hg2+ ions only.
- Limit of detection for Hg2+ was found to be 0.5 μM in aqueous solution.
- The proposed sensor was applied to detect Hg2+ ions in real water sample (tap water) with high selectivity.