Portable and selective colorimetric film and digital image colorimetry for detection of iron

Abstract Iron is an important trace element in environmental and biological systems, the development of simple and selective methods for the determination of iron is important. In this work, completely biodegradable tapioca starch was introduced as the substrate to entrap standard chromogenic probes (1,10-phenanthroline) for fabrication of a novel colorimetric sensor for ferrous. A clear plasticized thin film from tapioca starch was fabricated inside a small plastic tube as a portable test kit. A red complex was obtained by exposing the film to a ferrous solution, while no color changes were obtained with various other ions, indicating excellent selectivity. The developed films were applied in conjunction with a digital image colorimetry for quantification of ferrous. Calculated molecular absorption of the red complex showed the widest linear range (0 to 10 mg L −1 ) with good linearity (R 2 −1 ). The concentrations of ferrous ion in soil and water samples quantified by the developed method were not significantly different from atomic absorption spectrophotometry at 95% confidence level. The films were stable for at least three months.