However, the development of facile, low-cost, highly sensitive and practical cyanide chemosensors that function in aqueous media still remain a challenge especially the visual detection of ppb levels of cyanide in aqueous solution without the use of spectrophotometers.
In this sense, we have developed a new colorimetric sensing of cyanide anions in aqueous media based on functional surface modification of natural cellulose materials by the incorporation of a chromogenic probe onto cellulosic fibers. The dye-sensitized cellulose materials were able to detect cyanide at about 0.01e0.07 mM in aqueous solution with high selectivity over other anions.
The choice of the cellulose as a support is due to its natural availability and especially for its hydrophilic character. In order to develop a simple hydrophilic material able to detect the cyanide anions in pure aqueous media, our idea consists of the incorporation of the cyanide chemodosimeter into polymeric plastic film based on biosourced biopolymers.