Specific and sensitive on-site detection of Cr(VI) by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)), a highly toxic heavy metal ion, poses a serious threat to human health, and the demand of rapid detection still on-going. Herein, we propose a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS)-based method for rapid and cost-effective quantification of Cr(VI) in aqueous solutions with direct signal of Cr(VI) rather than indirect signals of Raman reporter molecules exploited in previous studies. This method demonstrates high sensitivity (the detection limit of 0.72 ppb), high reproducibility (the batch-to-batch variation was less than 10 %), and excellent selectivity. The results of this proposed method are fairly in good agreement (R-2 = 0.991) with those of the UV colorimetric method promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). We demonstrated the potential of our novel method for practical application in determining Cr(VI) concentrations in drinking and environmental water samples, in which adequate recovery, and high interference resistance were observed. This method has the advantages of being faster and suitable for on-site inspection as no pretreatment process is required and the equipment is portable. The excellent performance promises a great prospective toward a rapid, reliable, and on-site detection for Cr(VI).

Automated summary

The study introduces a SERS-based method with high sensitivity, reproducibility, and excellent selectivity, showing consistent results with the USEPA's UV colorimetric method. This method can be applied practically in determining Cr(VI) concentrations in drinking and environmental water samples, offering the advantages of being faster, portable, and requiring no pretreatment.