Adsorption-assistant detection of trace uranyl ion with high sensitivity and selectivity in the presence of SBA-15

Abstract

A new strategy adsorption-assistant detection of trace uranyl ion is developed in this work employing fluorescence techniqe. Specifically, mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15 is introduced in the process of determination of uranyl by esculin to enhance the sensitivity and selectivity. A linear detecting range of 0.001–0.05 μM and a limit of detection of 6 nM are achieved, which is probably due to the adsorption of both esculin and uranyl ion onto SBA-15. The KSV value is 8.69 × 106 mol−1 L, which was ca. 40 times of that without SBA-15.