Determination of hydrogen peroxide and triacetone triperoxide (TATP) with a silver nanoparticles—based turn-on colorimetric sensor

Abstract Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) is a synthetic precursor and degradation product of peroxide-based explosives, such as TATP. We developed a colorimetric sensor that is selective, sensitive, cost-efficient and easy-to-use in conventional laboratories for the naked eye detection of hydrogen peroxide and for indirect determination of peroxide-based explosives (which are devoid of chromogenic/fluorogenic functional groups). We were able to partly oxidize zero-valent silver nanoparticles (Ag 0 NPs) by H 2 O 2 to Ag + under special conditions, and thus devise an indirect method for trace H 2 O 2 quantification by measuring the absorbance of the blue-colored diimine of TMB (3,3′,5,5′- tetramethylbenzidine) at 655 nm, arising from TMB oxidation with Ag + . TATP was acid-hydrolyzed to H 2 O 2 by an acidic cation-exchanger (Amberlyst-15) for potential field use. The limit of detection (LOD) of the sensor was 20 nM for H 2 O 2 and 0.31 mg L −1 for TATP. Common soil ions did not interfere, and TATP was analyzed in synthetic mixtures of other energetic materials. The responses of detergents, sweeteners, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) and paracetamol-based painkiller drugs, used as camouflage material in passenger belongings, were also examined. The developed method was statistically validated against the standard analytical methods of titanium(IV) oxysulfate (TiOSO 4 ) for H 2 O 2 and GC–MS for TATP using t- and F- tests.