Hydrothermal synthetic mercaptopropionic acid stabled CdTe quantum dots as fluorescent probes for detection of Ag+

Mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) with particle size 3 nm have been successfully synthesized in aqueous medium by hydrothermal synthesis method. And the effects of different metal ions on MPA capped CdTe QDs fluorescence were studied using fluorescence spectrometry. The results demonstrated that at the same concentration level, Ag+ could strongly quench CdTe QDs fluorescence, and the other metal ions had little effect on CdTe QDs fluorescence except Cu2+. On the basis of this fact, a rapid, simple, highly sensitive and selective method based on fluorescence quenching principle for Ag+ detection in aqueous solution was proposed. Under optimal conditions, the quenched fluorescence intensity (F0–F) increased linearly with the concentration of Ag+ ranging from 4 × 10−7 to 32 × 10−7 mol L−1. The limit of detection for Ag+ was 4.106 × 10−8 mol L−1. The obtained plot of F0/F versus [Ag+] was an upward curvature, concave towards the y-axis, rather than a straight line. The modified form of the Stern–Volmer equation was third order in Ag+ concentration. According to the modified Stern–Volmer equation, it can be inferred that dynamic quenching and static quenching simultaneously occurred when Ag+ interacted with MPA capped CdTe QDs. At the same time other factors might also influence the quenching process. Based on this study, hydrothermal synthesized MPA capped CdTe QDs with particle size 3 nm may be used as a novel fluorescence probe to quantificationally and selectively detect Ag+.

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► MPA stabled CdTe QDs were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method.
► Research the effect of different metal ions on fluorescence intensity of CdTe QDs.
► Ag+ could effectively quench the CdTe QDs fluorescence intensity.
► A rapid, simple and specific method of detection Ag+ was proposed.
► The method of detecting Ag+ had a wide linear range and low detection limit.