Detection of Cu2+ metals by luminescent sensor based on sulfonated poly (arylene ether nitrile)/metal-organic frameworks

Excessive level of heavy metals results in serious health and environmental issues. Therefore, an efficient and real-time detection of trace amount of heavy metals is indispensable. In this work, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are fabricated via a simple priming method. The surface and cross-section morphology of MMMs are investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) to rule out those MOFs particles, which are blended with sulfonated poly (arylene ether nitrile) (SPEN). Thus MMMs without serious agglomeration are obtained. The MMMs incorporated with different proportions of MOF-5 are successfully used for sensitively and selectively detecting the heavy metal ions. The results reveal that the heavy metals with the concentration of 10(-6) M still can efficiently quench the fluorescence of MMMs. In addition, the presented results further verify that the trace amount of Cu2+ can be sensed by MMMs with little interference from other competing analogues, including Hg2+, Co2+, Cd2+, and Pb2+.