Designing an Electrochemical Sensor Based on Ferrite Nanostructures for Analysis of Heavy Metal Mercury Ions in Agricultural Sources from Saffron to Soil Samples

The health risks arising of heavy metal ions in agricultural sources have attracted global attention. Therefore, study about the accumulation of them in the systems related to soil-plant is the source for human health risk assessments. So, in the present work, zinc hexa ferrite nanostructures were synthesized by starch as a green approach via ultrasonic method. The nanostructures were characterized using various techniques. Then, a nanostructured modified sensor was designed based on the synthesized samples. The modified electrode exhibited excellent stability and sensitivity for Mercury ions (Hg 2+ , Hg(II)), and an improved electron transfer between the sensor and Hg 2+ was observed. Under the optimized experimental conditions two linear dynamic ranges of 0.004–2.0 and 2.0–900.0 μM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.20 nM were obtained for Mercury ions using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) techniques. Furthermore, the modified nanostructured sensor showed good selectivity and sensitivity, making it appropriate for the detection of Hg 2+ in various real complicated samples.