Tailoring SWCNTs surface morphology using PEI for highly selective and stable detection of Cu²⁺ heavy metal ion: a nanosensing platform

ABSTRACT

Novel and facile investigation applying polyethylenimine (PEI) functionalised Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) for detection of heavy metal ion, copper (Cu²⁺) ions has been studied as a nanosensing platform. PEI/SWCNTs shows highly selective and rapid detection of Cu²⁺ ions since SWCNTs having large surface area shows high porosity and high chemical reactivity towards Cu²⁺ ions with high stability. FESEM and Raman Spectra measurements have been employed for characterising the nanocomposite and these techniques indicate that the PEI functionalised SWCNTs have been favourably synthesised. The detection of Cu²⁺ ions on the fabricated PEI/SWCNTs nanocomposite has been carried out by UV-vis spectroscopy. This study illustrates that PEI@SWCNTs nanoplatform is highly sensitive for selective and stable sensing of Cu²⁺ ions in the range of 0.01 µM to 100 µM with lower limit of detection (LOD) of 6.2 nM in aqueous medium. Selectivity and stability studies suggest that it is a unique and versatile platform for detection of copper ions rather in complex mediums with long-term usability.

KEYWORDS:

• Single-wall carbon nanotubes
• functionalization
• polyethylenimine
• nanosensor
• copper heavy metal ions

Acknowledgments

Dr. Shama Parveen is thankful to Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India for providing funds as Research Associateship.

Date Availability

The data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also forms part of an ongoing study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research [09/466(0194)2K18EMR-l].