Electronic Supplementary Material
Rapid and ultrasensitive colorimetric detection of mercury(II) by chemical initiated
aggregation of gold nanoparticles
Yinji Chen1, 2, # Li Yao 2, #, Yi Deng 2, Daodong Pan3, Edward Ogabiela2, 4, Jinxuan Cao3, Samuel
B. Adeloju2, 4*, Wei Chen1, 2
1
National Engineering Lab of Food Storage and Transportation, Nanjing University of
Finances and Economics, Nanjing 210023, P.R. China
2
School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Institute of Food Safety and Quality Control,
Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 23009, P.R. China
3
Department of Food Science & Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, P. R. China
4
School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
#
These two authors contributed equally to this manuscript.
Figure S1. The UV-vis results of AuNPs with different diameters.

Corresponding author: sam.adeloju@monash.edu; chenweishnu@163.com
1
Figure S2. UV-vis spectrum of mercury ion sensing system without lysine (control group)
Figure S3. UV-vis spectrum of mercury ion sensing system with lysine at 0.00004 mM
Figure S4. UV-vis spectrum of mercury ion sensing system with lysine at 0.0004 mM
2
Figure S5. UV-vis spectrum of mercury ion sensing system with lysine at 0.004 mM
Figure S6. UV-vis spectrum of mercury ion sensing system with lysine at 0.04 mM
Figure S7. UV-vis spectrum of sensing system without lysine (control group)
3
Figure S8. UV-vis spectrum of sensing system with lysine as “bridge molecule” at pH 7
Figure S9. UV-vis spectrum of sensing system with lysine as “bridge molecule” at pH 8
Figure S10. UV-vis spectrum of sensing system with lysine as “bridge molecule” at pH 9
4
Figure S11. UV-vis spectrum of sensing system with lysine as “bridge molecule” at pH 10
Figure S12. The chemical structure of lysine at different pH values
5
Table S1 Comparison of the related methods for detection of Hg (II)
Method
Reagent
Colorimetric
Gold nanoparticles
Linear range (nM)
Ref
0-9000
LOD
(nM)
35
500-25000
60
[S2]
Gold nanoparticles
50-3000
30
[S3]
Gold nanoaparticles
9000-50000
1350
[S4]
Gold nanorods
Fluorescent
Gold nanoparticles
0.002-0.1
Silica materials
0-400000
Silica/CdTe
2-14
Silver nanocluster
50-1000/500-10000
Electrochemical
Graphene oxide
1-300
Lateral flow strip
Polymer brushes
0-16000
0.01
8000
[S1]
Ours
[S5]
1.55
[S6]
3/9
[S7]
1
[S8]
No
[S9]
Gold nanoparticle t
[S10]
References
[S1] Chansuvarn W, Imyim A (2012) Visual and colorimetric detection of mercury (II) ion using gold
nanoparticles stabilized with a dithiadiaza ligand. Microchim Acta 176:57
[S2] Liang G X, Wang L, Zhang H, Han Z, Wu X (2012) A colorimetric probe for the rapid and selective
determination of mercury (II) based on the disassembly of gold nanorods. Microchim Acta 179:345
[S3] Ma Y, Jiang L, Mei Y, Song R, Tian D, Huang H (2013) Colorimetric sensing strategy for mercury
(II) and melamine utilizing cysteamine-modified gold nanoparticles. Analyst 138:5338
[S4] Chen Z B, Zhang C M, Tan Y, Zhou T H, Ma H, Wan C Q, Lin Y Q, Li K (2014)
Chitosan-functionalized gold nanoparticles for colorimetric detection of mercury ions based on
chelation-induced aggregation, Microchimica Acta, doi:10.1007/s00604-014-1365-8
[S5] Zou Q, Zou L, Tian H (2011) Detection and adsorption of Hg by new nesoporous silica and
membrane material grafted with a chemodosimeter J Mater Chem 21:14441
[S6] Li T, Zhou Y, Sun J, Tang D, Guo S, Ding X (2011) Ultrasensitive detection of mercury ion using
CdTe quantum dots in sol-gel derived silica spheres coated with calix arene as fluorescent probes,
Microchim Acta 175:113
[S7] Wang R Z, Zhou D L, Huang H, Zhang M, Feng J J, Wang A J (2013) Water soluble
homo-oligonucleotide stabilized fluorescent silver nanocluster as fluorescent probes for mercury ion
Microchimica Acta 180:1287
6
[S8] Park H, Hwang S J, Kim K (2012) An electrochemical detection of mercury ion using graphene
oxide as an electrochemically active indicator. Electrochem Commun 24:100
[S9] Schuewer N, Tercier-Waeber M L, Danial M, Klok H A (2012) Voltammetric detection of mercury
using peptide functionalized polymer brushes. Aust J Chem 65:1104
[S10] Zhu MY, Wang Y, Deng Y, Yao L, Adeloju SB, Pan DD, Xue F, Wu YC, Zheng L, Chen W (2014)
Ultrasensitive detection of mercury with a novel one-step signal amplified lateral flow strip based on
gold nanoparticle-labeled ssDNA recognition and enhancement probes, Biosensors & Bioelectronics, 61:
14-20
7