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Silver nanoclusters functionalized with Ce(III) ions are a viable “turn-on-off” fluorescent probe for sulfide

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Abstract

The authors show that silver nanoclusters functionalized with Ce(III) ions are a viable fluorescent probe for selective and sensitive detection of sulfide at pH 7.0. The blue fluorescence of silver nanoclusters (with excitation/emission peaks at 358/426 nm) is enhanced on the addition of Ce(III) ions but is quenched in the presence of a trace concentrations of sulfide. A fluorometric assay was worked out using the Ce(III)/AgNCs as the probe. Sulfide can be detected in concentrations up to 2.0 μM, and the detection limit is 15 nM. The method was successfully applied to the determination of sulfide in spiked real samples.

Silver nanoclusters functionalized with Ce(III) ions are a viable “turn-on-off” fluorescent probe for selective and sensitive detection of sulfide at pH 7.0.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China (1708085 MB48) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21205002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Anhui Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing, The Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Solids, Ministry of Education, Anhui Laboratory of Molecule-based Materials, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000, People’s Republic of China

    Jinshui Liu & Huijuan Bao

  2. Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Dik-Lung Ma

  3. State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, 999078, China

    Chung-Hang Leung

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  1. Jinshui Liu
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  2. Huijuan Bao
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  3. Dik-Lung Ma
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  4. Chung-Hang Leung
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Correspondence to Jinshui Liu or Dik-Lung Ma.

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Liu, J., Bao, H., Ma, DL. et al. Silver nanoclusters functionalized with Ce(III) ions are a viable “turn-on-off” fluorescent probe for sulfide. Microchim Acta 186, 16 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-3149-z

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