Transmittance of aqueous solutions with heavy metals in the UV range

Heavy metals in water are a health problem that requires developing economical detection methods. This paper presents experimental results of the transmittance of aqueous solutions with heavy metals in the UV range. Aqueous solutions were made of Cadmium, Zinc, Lead, Copper and Manganese at different concentrations. The measurements of transmittance of these solutions were done in the range from 200 to 400 nm. It is very important to mention that the transmittance is perfectly discernible from one to another solution and can be used to determine qualitatively and quantitatively the presence of such metals. The characterization of transmittance was done for heavy metals concentrations of 100 ppm to 10,000 ppm. The purpose of this work is to design and build an efficient, economical and portable electronic system to detect heavy metals contamination in water. However, in this report only the optical characteristics are presented.