Portable low-cost instrumentation for monitoring Rayleigh scattering from chemical sensors based on metallic nanoparticles

Using a Hg(II) sensor based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles as a model system, we evaluated the performance of two portable low-cost devices that monitor the wavelength-ratiometric resonance Rayleigh scattering signal of the chemical sensor upon white-LED illumination. The first device uses two optical filter-photodiode combinations to detect scattered light while the second employs a novel ultra-compact (grating-free) spectral sensor. Results show that the response of the Hg(II) sensor monitored with these devices is comparable to that measured using a high-end benchtop scanning spectrofluorometer. The great potential of this new LED-spectral sensor was demonstrated with the quantification of Hg(II) in tap and spring water. Due to the promising results obtained, many reported chemical sensors based on Rayleigh scattering from metallic nanoparticles could take advantage of this compact portable instrumentation for cost-effective field-deployable applications.