Regulation of the Metal Center in Lanthanide Nanoparticles to Achieve Multifunctional Sensing.

Development of a multifunctional sensor is highly desirable. In this work, traces of a carcinoid cancer biomarker of 5-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (5-HIAA) in real human urine can be detected by lanthanide nanoparticle (CFC = 7-chloro-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydroquinoline-3-carboxylic acid) and the sensing devices of the test paper and agarose gel, achieving an ultralow LOD of 0.8 × 10 ppm within a sensing time of 2.0 min. Interestingly, by metal center regulation of Tb and Eu codoping, nanoparticle shows high-sensitivity and low-LOD (0.019% v/v) sensing of water in ethanol. The sensing mechanisms are revealed by both experiments and quantum chemical studies.