Arsenic detection using zinc oxide modified with curcumin

Abstract

Arsenic is a highly toxic contaminant present in ground water. It is available in two forms, As(III) and As(V), the former being more toxic as compared to the later. It’s toxic properties were well known in the past and it has been used asa poison since ancient times.Today, it is one of the leading causes of groundwater contamination. In this thesis the major reason of arsenic toxicity has been studied along with its effect on human health, emphasizing on the distribution of contaminated groundwater across West Bengal and India. The methods of determining arsenic dissolved in water in recent times has been studied and summarised, comparing the different technologies used . Then,the thesis has mainly focused on developing a cheap, portable and easy to use technology for detection of arsenic in drinking water. For this purpose the use of simple aqueous phase chemistry method has been used to modify the surface of Zinc oxide using curcumin. When in contact with arsenic, the resultant sample shows strong fluorescence, thereby detecting arsenic. The physics behind the phenomenon has been studied in detail and an experiment has been performed to verify the results.