Du Xinfeng, Xie Hua, Qin Tianyi, Yuan Yihui, Wang Ning
State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, PR China.
Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Hainan Province, One Health Institute, Hainan University, Haikou, 570228, PR China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 2;15(1):6530. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50895-9.
The release and escape of radioactive materials has posed tremendous threats to the global environment. Among various radioactive elements, Sr has attracted growing attention due to its long half-life and its tendency to accumulate in bone tissue. Nonetheless, the concentration of Sr in radioactive waste is exceedingly low, far below the detection limits of currently available strontium-targeting chemical sensors. Herein, we propose an optical nanosensor (Sr-nanosensor) that exhibits an ultra-low detection limit of 0.5 nM, surpassing the Sr in the treated radioactive water from the Fukushima. The sensor offers wide sensing range of eight orders of magnitude, rapid response of less than 10 s, and high selectivity against 31 common ions. These excellent performances are attributed to a specific ligand (Sr-ligand) for Sr recognition. The Sr is found to be bound by six oxygen atoms from the Sr-ligand with a stability constant at least two orders higher than that of other traditional ligands. This study offers invaluable insights for the design of Sr-sensing methodologies as well as a technique for detecting trace amounts of environmental radioactive pollution.
放射性物质的释放和泄漏对全球环境构成了巨大威胁。在各种放射性元素中，锶因其半衰期长且易于在骨组织中积累而受到越来越多的关注。尽管如此，放射性废物中锶的浓度极低，远低于目前可用的锶靶向化学传感器的检测限。在此，我们提出了一种光学纳米传感器（锶纳米传感器），其超低检测限为0.5 nM，超过了福岛处理过的放射性水中的锶含量。该传感器具有八个数量级的宽传感范围、小于10秒的快速响应以及对31种常见离子的高选择性。这些优异的性能归因于用于识别锶的特定配体（锶配体）。研究发现，锶与锶配体中的六个氧原子结合，其稳定常数比其他传统配体至少高两个数量级。这项研究为锶传感方法的设计以及检测痕量环境放射性污染的技术提供了宝贵的见解。
