Using a cotton thread-based colorimetric sensor modified by carboxymethylcellulose and cuprizone with smartphone detection for quantification of copper

Josiane Lopes de Oliveira; Willian Toito Suarez; Vagner Bezerra Dos Santos; Leandro Paulo da Silva; Luis Fermin Capitán-Vallvey

doi:10.1039/d3ay01541f

Using a cotton thread-based colorimetric sensor modified by carboxymethylcellulose and cuprizone with smartphone detection for quantification of copper

Anal Methods. 2023 Nov 2;15(42):5683-5691. doi: 10.1039/d3ay01541f.

Authors

Josiane Lopes de Oliveira¹, Willian Toito Suarez¹, Vagner Bezerra Dos Santos², Leandro Paulo da Silva², Luis Fermin Capitán-Vallvey³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Centre for Exact Sciences and Technology, Federal University of Viçosa - UFV, Viçosa, 36570-900, MG, Brazil.
² Fundamental Chemistry Department, Federal University of Pernambuco - UFPE, Recife, 50740-560, PE, Brazil. vagner.bsantos@ufpe.br.
³ Department of Analytical Chemistry. Campus Fuentenueva, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, 18071, Spain.

PMID: 37861715
DOI: 10.1039/d3ay01541f

Abstract

In the present work, we report the development of a novel cotton thread-based colorimetric sensor modified by carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and cuprizone (CPZ) with smartphone detection and its application for the quantitative determination of cupric ions in water and cachaça. The cotton thread/smartphone detection-based colorimetric method is an easily affordable, low-cost technique which allows one to perform real-time and on-field determination analyses, especially with limited financial resources. The method involves the complexation of Cu(II) with CPZ, which causes a change in the coloration of the cotton thread from a shade of white to blue in the detection zone of the colorimetric sensor. The immobilization of CPZ on CMC in the cotton thread leads to the pre-concentration of Cu(II) via a complexation mechanism with colorimetric reaction. The application of the colorimetric sensor allows the quantification of copper in the range from 1 to 12 mg L^-1, with a low limit of detection of 0.21 mg L^-1. In addition, the recovery assays conducted in samples of water and cachaça resulted in recovery percentages ranging from 84.9% to 107%, which is indicative of a precise method. To validate the precision of the proposed colorimetric method, the values obtained from the quantification analysis were compared with those of the flame atomic absorption spectrometry and a good agreement at the 95% confidence level was obtained.