Sensor array based on silver nanoprisms for the determination of ethanol content and resolution of water–ethanol mixtures

Abstract

Determination of the authenticity of a drink as well as the existence or amount of its ethanol content is very important. Herein, silver nanoprisms were successfully used for the discrimination of different water–ethanol mixtures. The nanoparticles were characterized via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-vis spectrophotometry. Moreover, using the color profile of the array, a reliable relationship was established for the determination of ethanol content in water–ethanol mixtures. Silver nanoprisms were prepared via a green procedure using extracts of walnut peel, onion and red berry in the presence and absence of sodium citrate. The color variation of the prepared silver nanoprisms was used for discrimination. The RGB color indices of the sensor array were organized in matrices and processed via principal component analysis (PCA) for discrimination and clustering.