Macroporous perovskite nanocrystal composites for ultrasensitive copper ion detection

Accumulation of heavy metal ions, including copper ions (Cu 2+ ), presents a serious threat to human health and to the environment. A substantial amount of research has focused on detecting such species in aqueous solutions. However, progress towards ultrasensitive and easy-to-use sensors for non-aq...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanoscale 2022-08, Vol.14 (33), p.11953-11962
Main Authors: Li, Hanchen, Yin, Wenping, Ng, Chun Kiu, Huang, Ruoxi, Du, Shengrong, Sharma, Manoj, Li, Bin, Yuan, Gangcheng, Michalska, Monika, Matta, Sri Kasi, Chen, Yu, Chandrasekaran, Naresh, Russo, Salvy, Cameron, Neil R, Funston, Alison M, Jasieniak, Jacek J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aqueous solutions
Composite materials
Copper
Emulsion polymerization
Heavy metals
Hexanes
Ion detectors
Nanocrystals
Perovskites
Photoluminescence
Selectivity
Substrates
Transition metals
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Summary:Accumulation of heavy metal ions, including copper ions (Cu 2+ ), presents a serious threat to human health and to the environment. A substantial amount of research has focused on detecting such species in aqueous solutions. However, progress towards ultrasensitive and easy-to-use sensors for non-aqueous solutions is still limited. Here, we focus on the detection of copper species in hexane, realising ultra-sensitive detection through a fluorescence-based approach. To achieve this, a novel macroporous composite material has been developed featuring luminescent CsPbBr 3 nanocrystals (NCs) chemically adhered to a polymerized high internal phase emulsion (polyHIPE) substrate through surface thiol groups. Due to this thiol functionality, sub-monolayer NC formation is realised, which also renders outstanding stability of the composite in the ambient environment. Copper detection is achieved through a direct solution based immersion of the CsPbBr 3 -(SH)polyHIPE composite, which results in concentration-dependent quenching of the NC photoluminescence. This newly developed sensor has a limit of detection (LOD) for copper as low as 1 × 10 −16 M, and a wide operating window spanning 10 −2 to 10 −16 M. Moreover, the composite exhibits excellent selectivity among different transition metals. CsPbBr 3 -(SH)polyHIPE composite was produced by adhering CsPbBr 3 nanocrystals to a (SH)-polyHIPE substrate. This well-designed composite has an extremely high sensitivity to copper ions in organic solvents.
ISSN:2040-3364
2040-3372
DOI:10.1039/d2nr02737b