A novel nanosensing system was developed by the surface functionalization of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with β-alanine dithiocarbamate (ADTC) for the selective recognition and monitoring of Hg2+ and Fe3+ ions in aqueous medium. This system showed a visually detectable colour change from yellow to colourless and the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of AgNPs at 402 nm disappeared with the addition of both Hg2+ and Fe3+ ions due to the aggregation of nanoparticles. Interestingly, the functionalized AgNPs can be applied for the discrimination and selective detection of Hg2+ and Fe3+ in the presence of Br− and Cl−, respectively.
