the world now. Driven by the need, this communication reports for the first time a tryptophan
protected popcorn shaped gold nanomaterials based SERS probe for rapid, easy and highly
selective recognition of Hg (II) ions in the 5 ppb level from aqueous solution, with high
sensitivity and selectivity over competing analytes. We demonstrate that our SERS assay is
capable of measuring the amount of Hg (II) in alkaline battery.