Effect of γ-irradiation on ruthenium-morin nanocomposite for trace detection of Ce(IV), Ce(III) and Dy(III)

The article reports on the generation of Ru-morin nanocomposites using a simple methodology in presence and in absence of gamma-irradiation. The nanocomposites were characterized using several techniques including, N-2 adsorption-desorption, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffractometric (XRD) technique, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) methods. The results revealed the production of comparatively smaller sized particles with smaller pores when prepared in presence of energetic gamma-irradiation. The irradiated nanocomposite was found to be an eligible candidate for analytical sensing of Ce(IV), Ce(III) and Dy(III) out of a set of different lanthanoids. The lowest values of limit of detection (LOD) out of all the pH conditions for Ce(IV), Ce(III) and Dy(III) were 0.09 mu M (at pH 12), 0.08 mu M (at pH 12) and 5.37 mu M (at pH 2) respectively using absorption spectroscopy. The LOD of Ce(IV) at pH 7 was found to be 0.35 mu M by fluorescence spectroscopic method. It is established that the sensing is a pH dependent phenomenon which enables a selective and mutually exclusive sensing of these three lanthanoids individually. The study was also extended towards two environmental samples viz., tap water and ground water with significant recovery of Ce(IV), Ce(III) and Dy(III) from tap water and Ce(IV) and Dy(III) from ground water.