Immobilization Of Different Chromophores On Cellulose Acetate Butyrate Flat-Sheet To Detect Heavy Metal Ions

Heavy metals poisoning has been a serious problem to the environment and human health. Affordable and easy to use optical sensors are being developed in effort to monitor and reduce the heavy metal contaminations. This study focuses on the types of chromophores as the optical reagent that can detect the heavy metals at different heavy metal concentrations. The chromophore selected for this research are dithizone (DTZ), 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) and 4-(2-pyridylazo)-resorcinol (PAR) and the heavy metal used is Pb2+. The color changes of DTZ are the most significant during heavy metal detection at 5ppm heavy metal concentration. The color changes of PAR and PAN on the other hand, are not so noticeable making DTZ as the most suited to be used as the optical reagent among the three chromophores suggested. The chromophores are also used to detect the heavy metals at different concentrations. At 5ppm a.nd 10ppm, the chromophores are able to produce color changes with the most significant changes belong to DTZ. DTZ is also able to produce color changes at 3ppm concentration although it is not as significant as the detection at 5ppm and 10ppm concentrations. DTZ showcases the best sensitivity between the three chromophores tested