A practical graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)based fluorescence sensor for the competitive detection of trithiocyanuric acid and mercury ions

Meng Li; Bo Wang; Xufei An; Zhiyong Li; Hongtao Zhu; Boyang Mao; David G. Calatayud; Tony D. James

doi:10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021

A practical graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄)based fluorescence sensor for the competitive detection of trithiocyanuric acid and mercury ions

Meng Li, Bo Wang, Xufei An, Zhiyong Li, Hongtao Zhu, Boyang Mao, David G. Calatayud, Tony D. James

Department of Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 Citations (SciVal)

102 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A fluorescent sensor for the detection of trithiocyanuric acid (TCA)and Hg²⁺ was developed based on competitive interactions: non-covalent stacking between g-C₃N₄ and TCA vs coordinative interaction between TCA and Hg²⁺. Electrostatic simulations were used to evaluate the interactions and help describe the detection mechanism. Moreover, normalized 2D fluorescence contour plots have been used to understand the fluorescence phenomenon. When TCA was added into a g-C₃N₄ nanosheet solution free of Hg²⁺, TCA interacted with g-C₃N₄ nanosheets via hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions, resulting in fluorescence quenching of the g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. However, upon the addition of Hg²⁺, the fluorescence of the TCA-g-C₃N₄ nanosheet hybrid system was restored, due to coordination of Hg²⁺ with TCA through the S atoms, breaking the TCA-g-C₃N₄ stacking interaction. Our results provide a new approach for the design of multifunctional nanosensors suitable for the detection of environmental pollutants.

Original language	English
Article number	107476
Journal	Dyes and Pigments
Volume	170
Early online date	12 Apr 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021
Publication status	Published - 1 Nov 2019

Funding

The present work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21607044 ), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (No. B2017502069 ) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2018MS113 ). All data supporting this study are provided as supplementary information accompanying this paper. T.D.J. wishes to thank the Royal Society for a Wolfson Research Merit Award. Appendix A

Keywords

Dye sensor
Fluorescent sensor
Functional materials
Graphitic carbon nitride
Mercury sensing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemical Engineering
Process Chemistry and Technology

Access to Document

10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021

Dyes_and_Pigments_Final_Version_110919.PDFAccepted author manuscript, 2.35 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{0c3898b89cbe47cb9f2b1e17ee6bc020,

title = "A practical graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)based fluorescence sensor for the competitive detection of trithiocyanuric acid and mercury ions",

abstract = "A fluorescent sensor for the detection of trithiocyanuric acid (TCA)and Hg2+ was developed based on competitive interactions: non-covalent stacking between g-C3N4 and TCA vs coordinative interaction between TCA and Hg2+. Electrostatic simulations were used to evaluate the interactions and help describe the detection mechanism. Moreover, normalized 2D fluorescence contour plots have been used to understand the fluorescence phenomenon. When TCA was added into a g-C3N4 nanosheet solution free of Hg2+, TCA interacted with g-C3N4 nanosheets via hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions, resulting in fluorescence quenching of the g-C3N4 nanosheets. However, upon the addition of Hg2+, the fluorescence of the TCA-g-C3N4 nanosheet hybrid system was restored, due to coordination of Hg2+ with TCA through the S atoms, breaking the TCA-g-C3N4 stacking interaction. Our results provide a new approach for the design of multifunctional nanosensors suitable for the detection of environmental pollutants.",

keywords = "Dye sensor, Fluorescent sensor, Functional materials, Graphitic carbon nitride, Mercury sensing",

author = "Meng Li and Bo Wang and Xufei An and Zhiyong Li and Hongtao Zhu and Boyang Mao and Calatayud, {David G.} and James, {Tony D.}",

year = "2019",

month = nov,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021",

language = "English",

volume = "170",

journal = "Dyes and Pigments",

issn = "0143-7208",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A practical graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)based fluorescence sensor for the competitive detection of trithiocyanuric acid and mercury ions

AU - Li, Meng

AU - Wang, Bo

AU - An, Xufei

AU - Li, Zhiyong

AU - Zhu, Hongtao

AU - Mao, Boyang

AU - Calatayud, David G.

AU - James, Tony D.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - A fluorescent sensor for the detection of trithiocyanuric acid (TCA)and Hg2+ was developed based on competitive interactions: non-covalent stacking between g-C3N4 and TCA vs coordinative interaction between TCA and Hg2+. Electrostatic simulations were used to evaluate the interactions and help describe the detection mechanism. Moreover, normalized 2D fluorescence contour plots have been used to understand the fluorescence phenomenon. When TCA was added into a g-C3N4 nanosheet solution free of Hg2+, TCA interacted with g-C3N4 nanosheets via hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions, resulting in fluorescence quenching of the g-C3N4 nanosheets. However, upon the addition of Hg2+, the fluorescence of the TCA-g-C3N4 nanosheet hybrid system was restored, due to coordination of Hg2+ with TCA through the S atoms, breaking the TCA-g-C3N4 stacking interaction. Our results provide a new approach for the design of multifunctional nanosensors suitable for the detection of environmental pollutants.

AB - A fluorescent sensor for the detection of trithiocyanuric acid (TCA)and Hg2+ was developed based on competitive interactions: non-covalent stacking between g-C3N4 and TCA vs coordinative interaction between TCA and Hg2+. Electrostatic simulations were used to evaluate the interactions and help describe the detection mechanism. Moreover, normalized 2D fluorescence contour plots have been used to understand the fluorescence phenomenon. When TCA was added into a g-C3N4 nanosheet solution free of Hg2+, TCA interacted with g-C3N4 nanosheets via hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions, resulting in fluorescence quenching of the g-C3N4 nanosheets. However, upon the addition of Hg2+, the fluorescence of the TCA-g-C3N4 nanosheet hybrid system was restored, due to coordination of Hg2+ with TCA through the S atoms, breaking the TCA-g-C3N4 stacking interaction. Our results provide a new approach for the design of multifunctional nanosensors suitable for the detection of environmental pollutants.

KW - Dye sensor

KW - Fluorescent sensor

KW - Functional materials

KW - Graphitic carbon nitride

KW - Mercury sensing

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066328346&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021

DO - 10.1016/j.dyepig.2019.04.021

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85066328346

SN - 0143-7208

VL - 170

JO - Dyes and Pigments

JF - Dyes and Pigments

M1 - 107476

ER -