A Ratiometric Fluorescent Sensor for Detection of Phosphate.

Over the past few years, ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobes have garnered substantial interest because of their self-calibration characteristics. This research developed a ratiometric fluorescent sensor to detect phosphate. Through encapsulating luminescent materials, Gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) and Carbon dots (CDs), into zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), the fluorescence signal of AuNCs was enhanced while that of CDs was suppressed. After phosphate was added, since phosphate can decompose ZIF-8, AuNCs and CDs were released, which weakened the fluorescence signal of AuNCs while restored that of CDs. Thereby, this makes CDs/AuNCs@ZIF-8 a potential fluorescent sensor for phosphate determination. The ratiometric sensor had facile synthesis, good selectivity and a low detection limit. Thus, this sensor was an effective tool for the detection of phosphate.