Use of image scanner as a novel sensor in the analytical laboratory

Abstract

Herein, a desktop scanner followed by digital image-based analysis (DIBA), was used as a favorable competitor to sophisticated spectrophotometers for the assessment of silver and gold in complex real samples. The current work used a specifically tailored Syringalrhodanine (SR) as a novel chromogenic reagent in the presence of cationic surfactants. Distinctively, our method has been thoroughly investigated, optimized, validated and successfully applied to complex samples, using the desktop scanner following respective recommended procedures. Images of Ag-SR and Au-SR colored complexes were captured, cropped and analyzed based on the standard RGB color mode to give RGB intensities that were converted to the corresponding color absorbance values. The plot of silver or gold concentration versus color absorbance, derived from digital images, gave linear relationships, limit of detections and limits of quantifications that favorably compete with the corresponding data obtained with sophisticated UV-VIS or ICP-AE spectrometers.