Encapsulation of strongly fluorescent carbon quantum dots in metal-organic frameworks for enhancing chemical sensing

Novel highly fluorescent (FL) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been synthesized by encapsulating branched poly-(ethylenimine)-capped carbon quantum dots (BPEI-CQDs) with a high FL quantum yield into the zeolitic imidazolate framework materials (ZIF-8). The as-synthesized FL-functionalized MOFs not only maintain an excellent FL activity and sensing selectivity derived from BPEI-CQDs but also can strongly and selectively accumulate target analytes due to the adsorption property of MOFs. The selective accumulation effect of MOFs can greatly amplify the sensing signal and specificity of the nanosized FL probe. The obtained BPEI-CQDs/ZIF-8 composites have been used to develop an ultrasensitive and highly selective sensor for Cu(2+) ion, with a wide response range (2-1000 nM) and a very low detection limit (80 pM), and have been successfully applied in the detection of Cu(2+) ions in environmental water samples. It is envisioned that various MOFs incorporated with FL nanostructures with high FL quantum yields and excellent selectivity would be designed and synthesized in similar ways and could be applied in sensing target analytes.