Fluorescent MnO@DEHP Nanoprobe for Rapid and Selective Detection of Fe(III) ions.

Particle extraction via the liquid-liquid interface (PELLI) method has been utilized to produce Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) coated MnO fluorescent nanoprobe denoted as MnO@DEHP for the selective detection of Fe ions. The synthesized MnO@DEHP nanoprobe was characterized by various instrumental techniques such as FT-IR, PXRD, TEM, EDAX, HRTEM, DLS, and XPS. Since the high concentration of Fe in waste water leads to water pollution, which in turn affects the ecosystem, and causes severe health hazards. Therefore, accurate detection of Fe ions in the aqueous systems is essential as they are involved in various chemical and biological processes in living things. Here, the synthesized MnO@DEHP nanoprobe selectively detects Fe ions in the presence of various metal ions in an aqueous media by fluorescence quenching (turn-off) mechanism. The limit of detection (LOD) of MnO@DEHP nanoprobe for Fe was found to be 0.49 µM. The test-strip method and real water sample analysis were also used to demonstrate the viability of MnO@DEHP as a fluorescent nanoprobe to detect Fe ions visually and in environment monitoring applications.