Colorimetric detection of heavy metal ions using aminosilane

Generally, metal NPs have the localized surface plasmon resonance properties (LSPR) for useful colorimetric detection of various chemicals. In this work, we investigated the possibility to calorimetrically detect the heavy metal ions, using only aminosilane without metal NPs supports. Amine group in aminosilane has a high affinity to bivalent metal ions and readily form the metal-amine complex, which could be formed into the metal nanoparticles by self-seed generation with silanization. Three metal ions (Co2+, Cu2+, and Cr2+) only showed the LSPR properties after the addition of aminosilane, through metal-amine complex for self-seed generation.

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