Novel fabrication of highly fluorescent Pt nanoclusters and their applications in hypochlorite assay

Abstract

A simple and efficient method for the fabrication of highly fluorescent platinum nanoclusters (Pt NCs) has been reported in which bovine serum albumin (BSA) serves as a scaffold and NaBH₄ as a reductant. The BSA-stabilized Pt NCs possess uniform morphology with sub-nanometer size. In comparison with other reports for the synthesis of the Pt NCs, our method involves less time and very mild experimental conditions. Hypochlorite sensing has been achieved via examining the fluorescence intensity of the Pt NCs and the fluorescence quenching involves the oxidation of the Pt NCs. The proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates that Pt NCs could serve as a viable alternative for selective hypochlorite assay.