Determination of nitrite in tap waters based on fluorosurfactant-capped gold nanoparticles-enhanced chemiluminescence from carbonate and peroxynitrous acid.

Fluorosurfactant (FSN)-capped gold nanoparticles (GNPs), which exhibit higher stability at a wider pH range and high ionic strength, were utilized for investigating the chemiluminescence (CL) effect on the reaction between high concentration carbonate (~0.3 M) and peroxynitrous acid. When the pH of the colloidal solution was 10.2 by dropwise addition of 0.05 M NaOH, FSN-capped GNPs offer an enhanced CL intensity. Based on the CL spectra, XPS spectra and the quenching effect of reactive oxygen species, a possible CL mechanism is proposed. The tolerance of FSN-capped GNPs towards salt concentrations (salt proofing effect) within a large pH range is an interesting feature, compared to the other previously reported work on nanoparticles CL systems. The CL intensity is proportional to the concentration of nitrite in the range from 0.1 to 100 μM. The detection limit (S/N = 3) is 0.036 μM and the relative standard deviation (RSD) for seven repeated measurements of 0.5 μM nitrite was 2.4%. This method has been successfully applied to determine nitrite in tap waters with recoveries of 97-106%.