A Low-Cost Colorimetric Assay for the Analytical Determination of Copper Ions with Consumer Electronic Imaging Devices in Natural Water Samples

This study reports a new approach for the determination of copper ions in water samples that exploits the complexation reaction with diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) and uses widely available imaging devices (i.e., flatbed scanners or smartphones) as detectors. Specifically, the proposed approach is based on the ability of DDTC to bind to copper ions and form a stable Cu-DDTC complex with a distinctive yellow color detected with the camera of a smartphone in a 96-well plate. The color intensity of the formed complex is linearly proportional to the concentration of copper ions, resulting in its accurate colorimetric determination. The proposed analytical procedure for the determination of Cu(2+) was easy to perform, rapid, and applicable with inexpensive and commercially available materials and reagents. Many parameters related to such an analytical determination were optimized, and a study of interfering ions present in the water samples was also carried out. Additionally, even low copper levels could be noticed by the naked eye. The assay performed was successfully applied to the determination of Cu(2+) in river, tap, and bottled water samples with detection limits as low as 1.4 µM, good recoveries (89.0–109.6%), adequate reproducibility (0.6–6.1%), and high selectivity over other ions present in the water samples.