Sensing and annihilation of ultra-trace level arsenic (III) using fluoranthene decorated fluorescent nanofibrous cellulose probe

Abstract

Besides presence of heavy metals, especially arsenic in water bodies, northern India is striving to obliterate crop residue, which is otherwise burnt to make the fields ready for subsequent crop, causing acute air pollution. Through this study, an effort has been made to utilize wheat-straw cellulose to develop inexpensive and efficacious sensing cum annihilation system for deleterious arsenite ions As(III) in water by grafting a novel fluorophore, 3-bromofluoranthene on cellulose (BF@CFs). BF@CFs were characterized for structural, morphological and thermal properties using FTIR, XRD, TGA, FESEM, EDS and TEM, which confirmed the successful insertion of fluoranthene molecule on cellulose while preserving its crystalline nanofibrous structure. Fluorescent studies indicated strong affinity of BF@CFs towards arsenite ions exhibiting “turn on” fluorescence response attributed to inhibition of photo induced electron transfer (PET) and metal ion chelation with a limit of detection of 2.8 ng L−1, lower than WHO prescribed limit of 10 μg L−1. Besides sensing, the porous fibrous network of BF@CFs exhibited good adsorption of As(III) ions with maximum adsorption of 171.2 μg g−1 at 35 min under optimized conditions. BF@CFs displayed 95.2% removal efficiency with 2 μg L−1 concentration of As (III) ions at room temperature and neutral pH observed by atomic absorption spectrophotometer coupled with hydride generation assembly (HG-AAS) measurements. BF@CFs retained adsorption 97.3% efficiency after five adsorption/ desorption cycles displaying excellent reusability and stability, strengthening its potential as dual functional sensor and adsorbent.