Issue 24, 2014

Nanoconfinement of pyrene in mesostructured silica nanoparticles for trace detection of TNT in the aqueous phase

Abstract

This article describes the preparation of pyrene confined mesostructured silica nanoparticles for the trace detection of trinitrotoluene (TNT) in the aqueous phase. Pyrene confined mesostructured silica nanoparticles were prepared using a facile one-pot method where pyrene molecules were first encapsulated in the hydrophobic parts of cetyltrimethylammonium micelles and then silica polymerized around these micelles. The resulting hybrid particles have sizes of around 75 nm with fairly good size distribution. Also, they are highly dispersible and colloidally stable in water. More importantly, they exhibit bright and highly stable pyrene excimer emission. We demonstrated that excimer emission of the particles exhibits a rapid, sensitive and visual quenching response against TNT. The detection limit for TNT was determined to be 12 nM. Furthermore, excimer emission of pyrene shows significantly high selectivity for TNT.

Graphical abstract: Nanoconfinement of pyrene in mesostructured silica nanoparticles for trace detection of TNT in the aqueous phase

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Sep 2014
Accepted
18 Oct 2014
First published
23 Oct 2014

Nanoscale, 2014,6, 15203-15209

Nanoconfinement of pyrene in mesostructured silica nanoparticles for trace detection of TNT in the aqueous phase

P. Beyazkilic, A. Yildirim and M. Bayindir, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 15203 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR05514D

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