Development of Novel Quantum Dots as Fluorescent Sensors for Application in Highly Sensitive Spectrofluorimetric Determination of Cu²⁺

Abstract

Quantum dots (QDs), semiconductor particles that have all three dimensions confined to the nanometer length scale are a good choice for the detection of heavy metals in aqueous media. In this study, novel CdSe/CdS QDs modified by mercaptoethanol were synthesized for Cu²⁺ detection, which shows high selectivity and sensitivity towards Cu²⁺ in the presence of other biological metallic ions. The detection mainly depends on the binding of Cu²⁺ onto the surface of QDs resulting in a chemical displacement of Cd²⁺. The subsequent formation of CuSe, and its application in hair and tea samples was also performed successfully.

Keywords:

• Quantum dots (QDs)
• fluorescense sensor
• copper (II)
• mercaptoethanol

Acknowledgments

The present work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 04010369).