Cu2+ chemosensing behaviour of self-organized micro-array structures of a donor–acceptor bichromophoric compound anchored onto Ag nanoisland films

This work reports on the Cu2+ chemosensing behaviour of self-organized micro-array structures of a novel donor–acceptor bichromophoric compound anchored onto Ag nanoisland films. The system exhibits quenching of the fluorescence in the presence of Cu2+ ions, with detection range extending from 2 × 10−8 M up to 3 × 10−6 M and limit of detection (LOD) of 8 × 10−9 M. The quenching of fluorescence is accompanied by a quenching of SERS signal from the metal-organic structure, which is consistent with an electron transfer between the copper cation and the organic moiety. The self-organization property of the sensing complexes into micrometric arrays offers great potential for miniaturization and future development of Cu2+ detection systems based on real-time observation of fluorescence or SERS quenching by fluorescence microscopy or microRaman spectroscopy.