Search

Molecularly imprinted fluorescence sensors have shown great promise in environmental or biological monitoring and due to its high stability, selectivity and sensitivity. In this study, a fluorescence surface-imprinted sensor (SiO 2 -AF@MIPs) towards tetracycline (TC) was successfully prepared to address the shortcomings in current molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensor, such as slow response, limited detection and deteriorated performance in real complex samples. Benefited from the thin surface-imprinting layer, the SiO 2 -AF@MIPs sensors showed higher sensitivity (LOD low to 4.26 nM), rapid detection rate, reusable performance and excellent selectivity over several target competitors. Furthermore, the fluorescence sensor could efficiently detect TC in real biological samples, including tetracycline hydrochloride injection, human serum and swine urine. These results clearly demonstrated the potential value of this smart sensor nanomaterial in environmental monitoring and biological diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A direct and facile "bottom-up" approach was carried out to prepare nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) under hydrothermal conditions. The as-synthesized NGQDs exhibited an excellent excitation-independent upconversion and downconversion photoluminescent (PL) behavior. And further, the NGQDs/BiVO 4 composite photocatalysts were also fabricated to investigate enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance. The addition of NGQDs in the NGQDs/BiVO 4 could improve the photocatalytic performance, and the results indicated 5.0 wt% NGQDs/BiVO 4 composites showed the optimal photocatalytic performance. The quenching of effects of different scavengers demonstrated that superoxide radical played a major role in MB degradation. A possible mechanism that NGQDs could enhance the photocatalytic performance of NGQDs/BiVO 4 composites had been also proposed. It was estimated that the photocatalytic performance of the NGQDs/BiVO 4 composites for the degradation of MB under visible light could be primarily ascribed to upconversion PL character of NGQDs and the efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fabrication of a novel adsorbent with biomass as template is a kind of effective and economical means to prevent the accelerated phenomenon of eutrophication. In this article, lanthanum(III)-coordinated amino-functional groups (La-EDA) anchored into free-standing mesoporous silica films to capture phosphate for the first time. The as-prepared modified free-standing inorganic/organic silica films (La-EDA-MSF) presented an outstanding adsorption property towards phosphate even at solution with high concentration of competing anions. The pH result manifested that the La-EDA-MSF could effectively capture phosphate over a wide pH range between 3 and 7. The reusability experiments indicated that no apparent adsorption capacity loss was observed compared with any other adsorbents. For the practical application, the phosphate absorption in environment sample by the as-prepared films was also evaluated and 98.35% of the phosphate could be removed by La-EDA-MSF in 1 h. In addition, the mechanism of phosphate absorption by this novel inorganic/organic silica film absorbent was also proposed. In general, findings in this paper could push forward the development of novel hybrid silica film adsorbent for application in rapid and efficient phosphate adsorption from the wastewater. Image 1 • The adsorbents were templated by the biomass cellulose nanocrystals. • The grafted amino group enhanced the stability of lanthanum active sites. • The high adsorption capacity was due to the affinity between La3+ and phosphate. • The film materials were easily separated compared to the power materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]