Development of a fluoride-anion sensor based on aggregation of a dye-modified polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane.

We report a new concept for the turn-on fluoride sensor based on the aggregation of dye-modified polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS). The dye-modified POSS aggregation initially shows weak fluorescence, while intense fluorescence can be obtained when fluoride breaks POSS cores following dye release.