NEW NANOCOMPOSITE MATERIAL BASED ON POLYURETHANE FOAM MODIFIED WITH SILVER TRIANGULAR NANOPLATES AS A SOLID-PHASE ANALYTICAL REAGENT FOR DETERMINATION OF MERCURY(II)

A method for determination of mercury(II) using polyurethane foam modified on the surface with silver triangular nanoplates that have an average edge length of 52 nm and thickness of 4 nm is developed. The method is based on the oxidation of silver nanoplates with mercury(II). This process is accompanied by a decrease in the surface plasmon resonance band of nanoparticles which allows us to consider the nanocomposite material as a solid-phase analytical reagent for the determination of mercury(II). The influence of the reaction time and pH on the sensitivity of mercury determination is studied. The detection limit of mercury under the selected conditions is equal to 50 mu g/L; the range of determined contents is 150-1000 mu g/L. The increase in the volume of the analyzed solution from 5.0 to 100.0 mL via concentration reduces the detection limit of mercury to 5 mu g/L.