Rhodamine-Immobilised Electrospun Chitosan Nanofibrous Material as a Fluorescence Turn-On Hg<SUP>2+</SUP> Sensor

Horzum N., Mete D., Karakus E., ÜÇÜNCÜ M., Emrullahoglu M., Demir M. M.

CHEMISTRYSELECT, vol.1, no.5, pp.896-900, 2016 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 1 Issue: 5
  • Publication Date: 2016
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/slct.201600027
  • Journal Name: CHEMISTRYSELECT
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.896-900
  • Keywords: Chitosan, fluorescence imaging, mercury sensing, nanofibre, rhodamine
  • Dokuz Eylül University Affiliated: No

Abstract

A turn-on fluorescence sensing system for mercuric (Hg2+) ions relying on a modified rhodamine B-chitosan fluorophore moiety was developed. This novel sensing approach relies on the simultaneous electrospinning of chitosan and rhodamine B hydrazide with phenylisothiocyanate functionality in hexafluoroisopropanol solution at 3.4 kV cm(-1). The electrospun mats exhibited not only considerably enhanced fluorescence intensity in the presence of mercury ions, a result attributed to the ring opening of the spirolactam unit of the rhodamine-based fluorophore, but also a remarkably high sensitivity and selectivity toward Hg2+. In effect, the strategy has the potential to open new avenues in the design and development of other high-performance nanofibrous sensing materials for detecting target metal species of environmental interest.