A peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence recovery system based on the interaction of N-doped graphene oxide nanosheets and an oligopeptide for ultra-sensitive and selective copper(ii) ion detection

Abstract

In this paper, a peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (CL) recovery system based on the interaction of N-doped graphene oxide nanosheets (N-GONs) and an oligopeptide for copper(II) ion detection has been reported. N-GONs as an excellent CL enhancer are prepared by the hydrothermal method using citric acid and ammonia, and the morphology and structure are characterized in detail by TEM, XPS, FT-IR and UV/vis, etc. In the bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate (TCPO) and hydrogen peroxide (TCPO + H₂O₂) CL reaction system, the addition of N-GONs gives a remarkable CL emission, which can be quenched by an oligopeptide composed of ten amino acid residues due to the interaction between the N-GON plane and the oligopeptide strand. While in the presence of copper(II) ion, the quenched CL is recovered gradually along with the addition of copper(II) ion in the system. Based on the above CL reactions, a TCPO + H₂O₂ + N-GONs + oligopeptide CL system is constructed, achieving an ultra-sensitive and selective detection of copper(II) ion in environmental water samples. The detection limit of this method is as low as 0.2 pmol L⁻¹, which is at least three orders of magnitude lower than other CL methods. The N-GONs and oligopeptide involved in the CL system are environmentally friendly, making it possess potential in the detection of copper(II) ion in environmental water samples.