Sabri Ylias M, Kandjani Ahmad Esmaielzadeh, Ippolito Samuel J, Bhargava Suresh K
Centre for Advanced Materials and Industrial Chemistry (CAMIC), School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, VIC 3001 (Australia).
Sci Rep. 2016 Apr 19;6:24625. doi: 10.1038/srep24625.
The synthesis of ordered monolayers of gold nano-urchin (Au-NU) nanostructures with controlled size, directly on thin films using a simple electrochemical method is reported in this study. In order to demonstrate one of the vast potential applications, the developed Au-NUs were formed on the electrodes of transducers (QCM) to selectively detect low concentrations of elemental mercury (Hg(0)) vapor. It was found that the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensor device is enhanced by increasing the size of the nanospikes on the Au-NUs. The Au-NU-12 min QCM (Au-NUs with nanospikes grown on it for a period of 12 min) had the best performance in terms of transducer based Hg(0) vapor detection. The sensor had 98% accuracy, 92% recovery, 96% precision (repeatability) and significantly, showed the highest sensitivity reported to date, resulting in a limit of detection (LoD) of only 32 μg/m3 at 75 °C. When compared to the control counterpart, the accuracy and sensitivity of the Au-NU-12 min was enhanced by ~2 and ~5 times, respectively. The results demonstrate the excellent activity of the developed materials which can be applied to a range of applications due to their long range order, tunable size and ability to form directly on thin-films.
本研究报道了一种利用简单电化学方法，在薄膜上直接合成尺寸可控的金纳米海胆（Au-NU）纳米结构有序单层的方法。为了展示其众多潜在应用之一，在传感器（石英晶体微天平，QCM）电极上制备了所开发的Au-NU，以选择性检测低浓度的元素汞（Hg(0)）蒸气。研究发现，通过增加Au-NU上纳米尖峰的尺寸，可提高传感器装置的灵敏度和选择性。就基于传感器的Hg(0)蒸气检测而言，Au-NU-12分钟QCM（纳米尖峰生长12分钟的Au-NU）性能最佳。该传感器的准确率为98%，回收率为92%，精密度（重复性）为96%，并且显著地，显示出了迄今为止报道的最高灵敏度，在75°C时检测限（LoD）仅为32μg/m3。与对照物相比，Au-NU-12分钟的准确率和灵敏度分别提高了约2倍和5倍。结果表明，所开发材料具有优异的活性，由于其长程有序、尺寸可调以及能够直接在薄膜上形成的能力，可应用于一系列领域。
