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Real-time and visual sensing devices based on pH-control assembled lanthanide-barium nano-cluster
Min Liu1, Haoran Li1, Lan Bai2
1College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Research Center for Ultra Fine Powder Materials, Key Laboratory of Functional Small Organic Molecule, Ministry of Education and Jiangxi's Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang 330022, PR China.
Journal of Hazardous Materials
|February 15, 2021
Summary
Lanthanide nano-clusters offer a new way to visually detect unseen air pollutants. Researchers developed novel sensors for real-time monitoring of chemicals like acetylacetone and aniline.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Chemical Sensing
Background:
- Real-time, visual monitoring of airborne pollutants is crucial due to their often imperceptible nature.
- Lanthanide nano-clusters function as luminescent sensors, but their synthesis control is challenging.
- Developing effective sensors for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) remains an active research area.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a controllable synthesis method for lanthanide-barium (Ln-Ba) nano-clusters.
- To investigate the pH-dependent structural changes in Ln-Ba nano-clusters.
- To create highly selective and sensitive visual sensors for specific airborne pollutants.
Main Methods:
- Controlled synthesis of four series of Ln-Ba nano-clusters (Dy2Ba, Tb2Ba2, Ln4Ba3, Tb4Ba4) by precisely adjusting reactant solution pH.
- Characterization of nano-cluster structures and their response to analytes.
- Fabrication of diverse sensing devices (test paper, gel, films) using a selected nano-cluster (3a).
Main Results:
- Successfully assembled Ln-Ba nano-clusters with pH-controlled nuclei formation, a novel finding.
- Identified nano-cluster 3a as a highly selective and sensitive sensor for acetylacetone (acac) and aniline.
- Demonstrated seven easy-to-use sensing devices (paper, gel, films on various substrates) for visual detection of acac and aniline vapors.
Conclusions:
- Precise pH control enables regular changes in lanthanide nano-cluster nuclei during synthesis.
- Nano-cluster 3a exhibits excellent performance as a visual sensor for acac and aniline.
- This work presents the first multiple, real-time, visual sensing devices based on lanthanide nano-clusters for air quality monitoring.
