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Detection of ultralow levels of mercury in water
Why is it in news?
- A team at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru, has found an innovative way to develop a sensor that operates using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy and has high sensitivity far better than other methods of detecting mercury in water.
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- Why is it needed?
- Mercury is a heavy metal that is predominant in the environment.
- It mixes with the environment due to both natural (e.g. volcanic activity) and anthropogenic (e.g. electrical appliances such as mercury lamps) activity.
- Studies have shown that industrial effluents can have higher mercury levels than that allowed by the WHO and Indian guidelines.
- With allowed levels of mercury in drinking water and effluents being in the range of 1–10 microgram per litre, it becomes necessary to develop sensors that can measure mercury levels in water with high sensitivity and selectivity.
- Current method can detect only up to 5 nanomolar (0.1 parts per billion) of mercury in water.
- Application of technology: This technique can be used for any other sample, including biofluids or tissue extracts, wherein detection of such low concentration does matter.
Source
The Hindu