Single gold nanocluster probe-based fluorescent sensor array for heavy metal ion discrimination

Abstract There is a continuing high demand to design effective sensors for the determination of heavy metal ions (HMIs) since they are hazardous to both human health and the environment. In this study, we reported a facile fluorescent sensor array for rapid discrimination of HMIs based on a single gold nanocluster (AuNC) probe. This AuNC probe was prepared by using 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole (MMI) as a ligand and polyvinypyrrolidone (PVP) as a dispersing agent. The fluorescence emission of PVP/MMI-AuNC was observed to be closely related to the pH value of the aqueous solution, which displays yellow (λmax = 512 nm) and red (λmax = 700 nm) fluorescence at pH 12.0 and 6.0, respectively. Further experiments indicated that different HMIs can produce differential effects on the photoluminescence of PVP/MMI-AuNC and thus generate distinct fluorescent responses at 512 and 700 nm. On the basis of this phenomenon, a fluorescent sensor array based on the PVP/MMI-AuNC was then built by simply changing pH value in the sensor element. A total of seven HMIs had their unique response patterns and were successfully distinguished by hierarchical cluster analysis and linear discriminant analysis both in buffer solution and spiked water samples, achieving 100% identification accuracy. This study provides a simple and powerful fingerprinting sensing platform for multiple HMIs, showing broad application prospects in the field of environmental monitoring.