Marine alga-mediated facile green synthesis of highly stable antibacterial ZnS quantum dots: a selective fluorescent sensor for heavy metal ions

IF 3.9 3区材料科学 Q2 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Journal of Materials Science Pub Date : 2026-04-13 DOI:10.1007/s10853-026-12699-8

Debasish Borah, Puja Saikia, Jayashree Rout, Debika Gogoi, Ankita Das, Narendra Nath Ghosh, Piyush Pandey, Chira R. Bhattacharjee

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Abstract

Contamination of water by heavy metals poses a serious and persistent threat to both the environment and human health, thereby intensifying the demand for the development of a more precise and efficient system for detecting heavy metals. Herein, we report a facile, simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for the fabrication of ZnS quantum dots (QDs) and their application as a rapid fluorometric detection of Hg(II) in aqueous samples. The as-synthesized material is systematically characterized using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. XRD analysis revealed the formation of a cubic sphalerite crystal structure, whereas the FTIR spectra confirmed the presence of distinctive functional groups on the as-synthesized nanomaterial. The observed energy band gap of ~ 3.88 eV clearly signified a pronounced blue shift compared to bulk ZnS, consistent with enhanced quantum confinement effects. The as-synthesized material exhibited excellent fluorescence sensing performance for the detection of heavy metal Hg(II) ions in aqueous media with a detection limit of 1.38 nM, with high sensitivity and selectivity. The reported probe can be used for nanomolar-level fluorometric detection of Hg(II). Moreover, the green-synthesized ZnS QDs show promise as a low-dimensional biomaterial, exhibiting significant efficacy against selective pathogenic bacterial strains.

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海藻介导的易绿合成高稳定抗菌ZnS量子点：重金属离子的选择性荧光传感器

重金属对水的污染对环境和人类健康构成严重和持久的威胁，因此加强了开发更精确和有效的重金属检测系统的需求。本文报道了一种简便、经济、环保的制备ZnS量子点（QDs）的方法，并将其应用于水样品中汞（II）的快速荧光检测。利用不同的光谱和显微技术对合成材料进行了系统的表征。XRD分析显示形成了立方闪锌矿晶体结构，而FTIR光谱证实了合成的纳米材料上存在独特的官能团。与体ZnS相比，观测到的~ 3.88 eV的能带隙明显表明蓝移，与增强的量子约束效应相一致。该材料对水介质中重金属Hg（II）离子的检测具有优异的荧光传感性能，检测限为1.38 nM，具有较高的灵敏度和选择性。所述探针可用于汞（II）的纳米摩尔级荧光检测。此外，绿色合成的ZnS量子点显示出作为低维生物材料的前景，对选择性致病菌菌株表现出显著的功效。图形抽象此图像的替代文本可能是使用AI生成的。

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来源期刊

Journal of Materials Science 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

7.90

自引率

4.40%

发文量

1297

审稿时长

2.4 months

期刊介绍： The Journal of Materials Science publishes reviews, full-length papers, and short Communications recording original research results on, or techniques for studying the relationship between structure, properties, and uses of materials. The subjects are seen from international and interdisciplinary perspectives covering areas including metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, electrical materials, composite materials, fibers, nanostructured materials, nanocomposites, and biological and biomedical materials. The Journal of Materials Science is now firmly established as the leading source of primary communication for scientists investigating the structure and properties of all engineering materials.