The behaviors of metal ions in the CdTe quantum dots-H2O2 chemiluminescence reaction and its sensing application

The behaviors of 15 kinds of metal ions in the thiol-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs)-H2O2 chemiluminescence (CL) reaction were investigated in detail. The results showed that Ag+, Cu2+ and Hg2+ could inhibit CdTe QDs and H2O2 CL reaction. A novel CL method for the selective determination of Ag+, Cu2+ and Hg2+ was developed, based on their inhibition of the reaction of CdTe QDs and H2O2, Under the optimal conditions, good linear relationships were realized between the CL intensity and the logarithm of concentrations of Ag+, Cu2+ and Hg2+. The linear ranges were from 2.0 x 10(-6) to 5.0 x 10(-8) mol L-1 for Ag+, from 5.0 x 10(-6) to 7.0 x 10(-8) mol L-1 for Cu2+ and from 2.0 x 10(-5) to 1.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1 for Hg2+, respectively. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 3.0 x 10(-8), 4.0 x 10(-8) and 6.7 x 10(-8) mol L-1 for Ag+, Cu2+ and Hg2+, respectively. A possible mechanism for the inhibition of CdTe QDs and H2O2 CL reaction was also discussed. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.