Thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA)-Carbon Dot/Aerogel Fluorescent Sensor for Lanthanide and Actinide Ions

Susmita Dolai; Susanta Kumar Bhunia; Leila Zeiri; Ofra Paz-Tal; Raz Jelinek

doi:10.1021/acsomega.7b01883

Thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA)-Carbon Dot/Aerogel Fluorescent Sensor for Lanthanide and Actinide Ions

ACS Omega. 2017 Dec 29;2(12):9288-9295. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.7b01883. eCollection 2017 Dec 31.

Authors

Susmita Dolai¹, Susanta Kumar Bhunia¹, Leila Zeiri¹, Ofra Paz-Tal², Raz Jelinek^{1

1}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Institute for Nanotechnology, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
² Chemistry Department, Nuclear Research Center, Negev, P.O. Box 9001, Beer Sheva 84190, Israel.

Abstract

Contamination of groundwater with radioactive substances comprising actinides and lanthanides is a significant environmental hazard and thus the development of selective, sensitive, and easy-to-apply sensors for water-soluble actinide and lanthanide ions is highly sought. We constructed a new selective fluorescent sensor for UO₂ ²⁺, Sm³⁺, and Eu³⁺ based on a carbon dot (C-dot)-aerogel hybrid prepared through in situ carbonization of 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA), a high-affinity heavy metal chelator. The TTA-C-dot-aerogel enabled the detection of UO₂ ²⁺ ions, which induced a significant red fluorescence shift, whereas Eu³⁺ and particularly Sm³⁺ ions gave rise to pronounced fluorescence quenching. Importantly, the lanthanide/actinide ion-selective TTA-C-dots could be synthesized only in situ inside the aerogel pores, indicating the crucial role of the aerogel host matrix both in enabling the formation of the C-dots and in promoting the adsorption and interactions of the lanthanide and actinide metal ions with the embedded C-dots.