A flexible Eu:Y2O3-polyvinyl alcohol photoluminescent film for sensitive and rapid detection of arsenic ions

Abstract

The present article reports the synthesis and characterization of Eu:Y2O3 nanophosphor (EYN) and EYN dispersed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fluorescent film (EYF), with subsequent studies of sensing behavior for the detection of heavy metal ions particularly arsenic ions (As3+) in real water samples. Various characterization techniques have been employed to confirm the successful phase formation/stability of EYF. The maximum emission peak for EYF with excitation wavelength 394 nm has been obtained as 612 nm and hence picked for the demonstration of PL (Photoluminescence) response with arsenic ions solution in natural pH range (at ∼ 7 pH). Fluorescence intensities of EYF have been found to decrease quickly with As3+ ion contents due to the reduction in the population of Eu3+ ions in the 5D0 level and also due to formation of direct or indirect coordinate bonds with Eu3+. The PL intensity of the EYF nanoprobe has completely been quenched at 260 µg/L concentration of As3+ ions with the limit of detection 57.5 ng/L (=0.057 ppb) for 0–100 µg/L linear range. The selectivity of EYF probe is also investigated for various common cations and ions present in real water samples. Moreover, sensing probe has been examined with different river water samples and shows recovery percent in between 98 and 105 & maximum % RSD value as 5.76 with n = 5 tests. Furthermore, the EYF sensing probe shows a visible color change with the contaminated water under UV–Vis light which useful for the onsite detection of arsenic concentration. Hence, EYF endows a promising pathway for a flexible, portable, low-cost sensing device for the sensitive and selective detection of arsenic ions in real water samples.