Sulfide Species Optical Monitoring by a Miniaturized Silicon Photomultiplier

The monitoring of water-soluble pollutants is receiving a growing interest from the scientific community. In this context, sulfide anion species S2- and HS- are particularly relevant since they can cause acute and chronic toxicity including neurological effects and at high concentrations, even death. In this study, a new strategy for fast and sensitive optical detection of sulfide species in water samples is described. The method uses an integrated silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) device coupled with the appropriate analytical strategy applied in a plastic microchip with dried reagents on board. More specifically, all sulfide species (H2S, HS- and S2-) in water samples are detected by the fluorescence signal emitted upon the reaction with N, N-dimethyl-phenylenediamine sulfate in the presence of Fe3+, leading to the formation of the fluorescent methylene blue (MB) species. It has been proven that the system herein proposed is able to measure sulfide concentration in a linear range from 0-10 mg L-1 with a sensitivity value of about 6.7 mu A mg(-1) L and a detection limit of 0.5 mg L-1. A comparison with conventional UV-Vis detection method has been also carried out. Data show a very good linear correlation (R-2 = 0.98093), proving the effectiveness of the method. Results pave the way toward the development of portable and low-cost device systems for water-soluble sulfide pollutants.