Recent advances in fluorescent materials for mercury(ii) ion detection

Invading mercury would cause many serious health hazards such as kidney damage, genetic freak, and nerve injury to human body. Thus, developing highly efficient and convenient mercury detection methods is of great significance for environmental governance and protection of public health. Motivated by this problem, various testing technologies for detecting trace mercury in the environment, food, medicines or daily chemicals have been developed. Among them, the fluorescence sensing technology is a sensitive and efficient detection method for detecting Hg²⁺ ions due to its simple operation, rapid response and economic value. This review aims to discuss the recent advances in fluorescent materials for Hg²⁺ ion detection. We reviewed the Hg²⁺ sensing materials and divided them into seven categories according to the sensing mechanism: static quenching, photoinduced electron transfer, intramolecular charge transfer, aggregation-induced emission, metallophilic interaction, mercury-induced reactions and ligand-to-metal energy transfer. The challenges and prospects of fluorescent Hg²⁺ ion probes are briefly presented. We hope that this review can provide some new insights and guidance for the design and development of novel fluorescent Hg²⁺ ion probes to promote their applications.