Determination of a simple, low-cost analytical method for chromium detection
Exposure to chromium brings serious health problems to human body. Chromium accumulation causes skin disease, kidney disease, and lung cancer. Chromium detection is commonly performed using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS); however, these techniques require expensive, bulky, and complicated instrument. We sought to develop a simple, low-cost, portable microfluidic paper based analytical device (mPAD) for chromium analysis. Silver nanoparticle (AgNP) was used as the probe functionalized on mPADs to detect chromium because AgNP improves sensitivity of the detection due to its small size. For AgNP synthesis, concentrations of citrate, used as the reducing agent, and borohydride, used as the stabilizer, were studied. The optimum concentrations were 12.6 mM and 3.7 mM for sodium citrate and sodium borohydride, respectively. Paper types, analysis time, amount of AgNPs on paper, and modes for color analysis were investigated. pH of sample solution did not affect the developed approach. Moreover, there was no other interfering species impacting the measurement. The proposed device achieved the lowest detectable chromium (III) level down to 50 pg with 2 μL sample volume and linearity of 0.05-1.00 mg L-1. %Recovery of the method was 86.46%. In summary, low-cost, portable Ag NP functionalized mPADs showed ability to detect Cr at trace level.
Good job for the presentation. Finally, we celebrated their success! Hope you have the improved lab skills from our group and apply them in your career. Good luck in the future path!
Comments