The determination of copper ions based on sensitized chemiluminescence of silver nanoclusters

We report on the first application of novel, water-soluble and fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) in a chemiluminescent (CL) detection system. A method has been developed for the determination of copper(II) ion that is based on the fact that the weak CL resulting from the redox reaction between Ce(IV) ion and sulfite ion is strongly enhanced by the Ag NCs and that the main CL signals now originate from Ag NCs. UV-visible spectra, CL spectra and fluorescent (FL) spectra were acquired to investigate the enhanced CL mechanism. It is proposed that the electronic energy of the excited state intermediate SO(2)* that originates from the CL reaction is transferred to Ag NCs to form an electronically excited NC whose emission is observed. In addition, it is found that copper(II) is capable of inhibiting the CL of the nanoclusters system, but not if other common metal ions are present. The detection of copper(II) is achieved indirectly by measuring the CL intensity of Ag NCs. Under the optimized experimental conditions, a linear relationship does exist between the intensity of CL and the concentrations of copper(II) in the range of 0.2 nM to 0.1 mIe. The detection limit is 0.12 nM. The method is applied to the determination of copper(II) ion in tap water with satisfactory results.