Rapid mercury removal using living indigenous microalgal communities for water treatment applications by Amr Nasr Fekry (22521185)

“…Advanced characterization revealed significant surface modifications, with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) showing increased surface roughness, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) indicating involvement of hydroxyl, protein, and carbohydrate functional groups, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) confirming Hg(II) binding to oxygen-containing moieties with distinctive Hg 4f peaks at 101.78 and 105.8 eV. Optical microscopy revealed the formation of sudden spherical-shell boundaries around individual cells providing visual evidence of an immediate physico-chemical response at the cell-mercury interface, correlating with the observed rapid kinetics. …”