Dr. Roya Sedghi, a faculty member of the Faculty of Chemistry and Petroleum Sciences of SBU, has won a PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Research Grant in green chemistry for implementation of her project “Sensitive Visual Colorimetric Sensor Based on Polymeric Nanocomposite for Detection of Toxic Mercury and Lead Ions in Aqueous Solutions”.
This project started on October 15, 2020, and ended on January 8, 2022.
The toxic ions of mercury, lead, etc. in aqueous environments are usually detected by bulky and expensive devices that are located in the laboratories. To perform such experiments, water and wastewater sources are sampled and then the samples are transferred to the laboratory, although small concentrations cannot be measured by instruments.
The polymer nanocomposite sensor is designed as a new colorimetric sensor that has the ability to specifically detect (by changing the color) mercury and lead ions in aqueous environments in a very short time with very low concentrations (about 10 ppb and even less). This colorimetric nanosensor can be used by non-specialists at the site of contamination, and detects the presence and amount of contaminants in the shortest time possible.
