Fluorescence-enhanced detection of hypochlorite based on in situ synthesis of functionalization-free carbon spheres

Qiang Zhang; Chao Yuan; Lingxiao Wang; Pengchen Su; Long Yu; Xiangyang Hao; Suhua Wang

doi:10.1016/j.saa.2023.123310

Fluorescence-enhanced detection of hypochlorite based on in situ synthesis of functionalization-free carbon spheres

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2024 Jan 5:304:123310. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123310. Epub 2023 Aug 29.

Authors

Qiang Zhang¹, Chao Yuan², Lingxiao Wang³, Pengchen Su³, Long Yu³, Xiangyang Hao⁴, Suhua Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China; Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Geological Carbon Storage and Low Carbon Utilization of Resources, Beijing Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and Solid Wastes, National Laboratory of Mineral Materials, School of Material Sciences and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China. Electronic address: yuanchao@gdupt.edu.cn.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
⁴ Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Geological Carbon Storage and Low Carbon Utilization of Resources, Beijing Key Laboratory of Materials Utilization of Nonmetallic Minerals and Solid Wastes, National Laboratory of Mineral Materials, School of Material Sciences and Technology, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: haoxy@cugb.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China. Electronic address: wangsh@gdupt.edu.cn.

PMID: 37678044
DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.123310

Abstract

Hypochlorite (ClO^-) exposure has been confirmed to be associated with many serious diseases. Although abundant organic molecule-based probes have demonstrated high sensitivity and selectivity for ClO^- response, they often suffer from limitations including tedious preparation steps, poor water solubility, and the use of toxic solvent. In this work, a novel fluorescent sensor based on carbon spheres (CS) synthesized by solvothermal method was presented for ClO^- detection. In the presence of ClO^-, the obtained micro-size CS that initially displayed very weak fluorescence experienced a significant fluorescence enhancement in the blue channel, and a linear response range of 2-110 μM with detection limit of 10.7 nM could be achieved. In addition to proposed mechanism verification, a field visualization platform based on smartphone was designed to monitor hypochlorite in real environmental water samples to demonstrate its potential in portable detection.

Keywords: Carbon spheres; Fluorescence probe; Hypochlorite; Visual detection.