Synthesis and characterization of 2A-3SHPA decorated ZnS@CdS core–shell heterostructure nanowires as a fluorescence probe for antimony ions detection

Abstract

A fluorescent probe based on CdS/ZnS core/shell heterostructure nanowires decorated with 2-Amino-3-sulfhydrylpropanoic acid (2A-3SHPA) has been designed for the detection of antimony ions at nanomolar levels for the first time. The structural and morphological characterizations indicated that zinc sulfide shell with a zinc blend cubic structure was epitaxially grown along the radial core of the wurtzite hexagonal cadmium sulfide structure with high quality interface via cation exchange mechanism. The optical studies revealed that the developed CdS/ZnS core-shell nanowires have superior intense green luminescence emission at ambient temperature demonstrating efficient charge carriers recombination inside the CdS core. At the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensity showed a linear regression against the antimony concentration along the range from 1 nM to 1000 nM with detection limit 1.2 × 10−11 mol L−1. The developed fluorescence probe exhibited high photo-stability against temperature up to 60 °C as well as storage time till 2 months. These superior characteristics may enable the developed core-shell nanowires to monitor the traces of antimony ions to evade their dangerous effect on the health such as albuminuria and glycosuria.