Titrimetric analysis of total mercury ions including mercury(I) ions

A systematic analytical method is proposed and applied to directly determine the total concentration of Hg(II) and Hg(I) ions in water. Experimental results demonstrate that this method provides a low detection limit of 0.05 mM and small relative error within 1.5% in an ion concentration range of 0.2–50 mM. The technique is especially applicable for sample solutions that the traditional titration method like Volhard and EDTA complexation titrimetry could not analyze directly. This method could be employed to analyze solutions in any ratio of Hg(II) and Hg(I) ions including pure Hg(II) or pure Hg(I) ions, exhibiting several advantages, such as simple operation, good reproducibility, and low cost. Correspondence: Xin-Gui Li, Key Laboratory of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials, Institute of Materials Chemistry, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, China.