Water-dispersible hyperbranched conjugated polymer nanoparticles with sulfonate terminal groups for amplified fluorescence sensing of trace TNT in aqueous solution

Abstract

The efficient encapsulation of TNT by numerous hydrophobic cavities inside the hyperbranched conjugated polymer core allows for amplified fluorescence quenching detection of TNT down to 0.8 ppb.

Supramolecular Luminescent Sensors

“…Analyte-induced quenching of the nanostructure’s fluorescence was used to detect nitroaromatics at 0.5 ppm in fully aqueous environments. A variety of other examples have also been reported. , …”

“…Further sensitivity enhancements were demonstrated when the polymer was fabricated into a spin-coated thin film or coated in the interior of a capillary tube . Other fluorescent conjugated polymer systems have demonstrated strong quenching in the presence of these nitroaromatic analytes as well, − including in cases where the polymers have been aggregated in nanoparticles. ,, …”

“…A variety of other examples have also been reported. 143,144 Of note, the strength of hydrophobic association between two nonpolar molecules is intimately dependent on the solvent composition, 145 which must be highly polar (usually aqueous) in order to favor solvent exclusion between the nonpolar molecules. 146,147 Moreover, a variety of solvent additives can be used to tune the strength of the effective hydrophobic interactions, with additives such as chaotropic agents decreasing the effective hydrophobicity 148 and additives such as kosmotropic agents increasing it.…”

Ordered mesoporous NiFe2O4 with ultrathin framework for low-ppb toluene sensing

“…Chemoreceptive gas sensors have attracted growing attention due to their potential application in monitoring air quality, diagnosing disease, and detecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or other hazard gases [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Toluene as one of the typical VOCs is widely used but directly harmful to human's health, for which a guide value of 70 ppb (part per billion) in indoor air has been established by the world health organization [18].…”

Full-type photoluminescence from a single organic molecule for multi-signal temperature sensing

“…[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] However, compared to inorganic counterparts, organic phosphors generally show a relatively short phosphorescence lifetime (o10 ms) at room temperature due to rapid non-radiative decay of triplet excitons. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] To stabilize the triplet excitons, various strategies including crystallization, host-guest inclusion, H-aggregation, and doping in a rigid matrix have been used to achieve efficient RTP in organic materials. [30][31][32][33] Although a few classes of organic RTP phosphors have been reported, [34][35][36][37][38] they are very scarce in number compared to fluorescent dyes.…”