Determination of Cr(VI) based on the peroxidase mimetic catalytic activity of citrate-capped gold nanoparticles.

Highly negatively charged gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are shown to have strong simulated oxidase activity and effectively boosted the oxidation of enzyme substrate 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) by hexavalent chromium ion Cr(VI), resulting in the formation of oxidation product with blue color. Based on this, a facile colorimetric assay was developed to detect Cr(VI) at a range 0.008~0.156 mg/L with r = 0.996. The detection limit was estimated to be 0.52 μg/L. In addition, the colorimetric assay showed high selectivity against 28 other interfering ions. It was performed at room temperature and required about half an hour including the preparation of AuNPs. The assay was successfully applied to the determination of Cr(VI) in spiked water samples, and recoveries in the range 95.00-105.40% were obtained. This work paves a way for design of high performance sensor based on highly active nanozymes and also provides an extremely practical analytical tool for the monitoring of Cr(VI) in the environment.