Magnetic core-shell fibrous silica functionalized with pyrene derivative for highly sensitive and selective detection of Hg (II) ion

Abstract

In this work, hybrid magnetic core-shell fibrous silica (Py-CoFe₂O₄/SiO₂/KCC-1) as a fluorescence sensor has been developed for the sensitive and selective detection of Hg (II) ion. The pyrene-based derivatives are successfully functionalized within the magnetic core-shell fibrous silica (CoFe₂O₄/SiO₂/KCC-1) and characterized by Scanning electron microscope, Transmission electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Vibrating sample magnetometry, N₂ adsorption-desorption, and Thermo gravimetric analysis. The proposed hybrid sensor (Py-CoFe₂O₄/SiO₂/KCC-1) exhibits external magnetic behaviour and exclusive fluorescence response for Hg (II) ions over other competitive metal ions. The functional material exhibits an enhanced fluorescence response in the presence of Hg (II) ions and this attributes a good linearity (R²= 0.9906) with a detection limit 4.1 × 10⁻⁹ M. These results indicate that the fibrous silica modification of the core-shell improved the fluorescence sensing performance for the detection of Hg (II) ions. In addition, hybrid sensor finds a potential application for detecting Hg (II) ions in real water samples.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Sensor
• Magnetic nanocomposite
• Fibrous silica
• Detection
• Sensitivity

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Department of Chemistry, Tamilnadu, India.