Highly selective silica-based fluorescent nanosensor for ferric ion (Fe³⁺) detection in aqueous media

A highly selective fluorescence nanosensor was built based on the functionalized SBA-15 mesoporous silica with Dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH). The interaction of fabricated nanosensor was studied with metals ions in aqueous media. Under optimum conditions (time 5min, pH7, sensor dose 0.02g dispersed in 1L), SBA-15-DNPH was highly selective toward the Fe³⁺ ion in the presence of the different groups of interfering metal ions. The detection limit and linear concentration range of the nanosensor were 39×10^-6M and 5×10^-5-375×10^-5M; respectively. The efficiency of nanosensor was independent on the pH range studied (6-9), which indicated that SBA-15-DNPH is a promising candidate for sensing and identification of Fe³⁺ ion in the environmental and other real matrix samples. SBA-15-DNPH showed good performance for Fe³⁺ ion detection and quantification in real samples.