AIE ligand-based silver clusters used for ethion detection

Abstract

Silver clusters usually have intriguing aesthetic structures and multiple application prospects in optical materials, chemocatalysis, bioimaging and chemosensors. However, these practical applications usually suffer from the instability of silver clusters. How to transform this disadvantage into an advantage for meaningful applications of silver clusters remains challenging. In this work, we judiciously prepared a silver cluster of Ag₂₄ using an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) ligand. Due to the argyrophilia of sulfur, Ag₂₄ can be easily destroyed by sulfur-containing pesticides such as ethion, releasing the AIE fragments. As a result, a “turn-on” emission change was observed, making Ag₂₄ a potential chemosensor for detecting ethion in water dominated solutions. This work provides new thoughts for the design of silver cluster-based luminescent chemosensors, and broadens the application range of silver clusters.