BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese researchers have developed a new nanocomposite that can accurately detect lead, one of the most toxic heavy metals found in water.

Many electrochemical analytical tools have been widely used to detect lead in water, however, it remains a challenge to accurately detect water samples contaminated by lead with interference by other coexisting heavy metal ions.

Chinese researchers from the Institute of Intelligent Machines, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a nanocomposite to achieve a sensitive and anti-interference electrochemical sensing for the analysis of lead.

Even in the presence of other coexisting heavy metal, the nanocomposite presented high adsorption capacity for the lead, which enabled its modified electrode to realize the selective and sensitive detection of lead.

The proposed method was used to detect lead in the water samples of a sewage treatment plant and obtained accurate test results.

The research was published in the journal Analytica Chimica Acta.