Tailored CuCl2 nanoparticles for glutamine and ammonia biochemical sensing applications

Abstract

In this study, CuCl2 nanoparticles (NPs) synthesised via pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) were successfully employed to simultaneously detect glutamine and ammonia, with a limit of detection of 20 nM and up to 1500 ppm, respectively. These NPs hold potential for non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of various health conditions using urine and sweat samples. The sensing mechanism relied on the plasmon peaks of CuCl2 NPs in the UV range (at 300, 363, and 423 nm), which were used to correlate the levels of glutamine and ammonia concentration with the absorbance. Quasi-spherical CuO and pyramidal CuCl2 NPs were synthesised through laser ablation of Cu powder in liquid IPA and IPA-HCl, respectively. CuCl2 NPs displayed higher ablation efficiency, higher optical absorbance (20-fold), and an 8400-fold increase in colloidal conductivity (0.0005 vs 4.2 mS/cm) compared to CuO NPs. The NP size distribution ranged broadly from 10 nm to less than 100 nm. XPS analysis revealed that ablation in pure IPA resulted in oxidized Cu NPs, while ablation in IPA-HCl liquid medium (12 nM HCl) led to the formation of a combination of metallic copper and CuCl2 NPs that were more conductive and had higher optical absorbance than their oxidized counterparts.