Determination of carbendazim in tea using surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering（SERS） is applied to detect the concentration of carbendzim（CBZ） in tea leaves. Au colloid is selected and used for active surfaces, and the extraction conditions are optimized in the experiment. The linearity range for the SERS intensity and the concentration of CBZ is found to be0.5 to 8 mg kgà1. The detection limit for CBZ is 0.1 mg kgà1and its recovery in tea samples is 72.3%. The detection results for CBZ using this method are compared with those of HPLC, and no obvious difference can be found. In addition, by dripping the condensed Au colloid on the tea leaves, the proposed SERS approach could be used to the in-situ determination of the half life period of CBZ on tea leaves.

Target-responsive DNAzyme hydrogel for portable colorimetric detection of lanthanide(Ⅲ)ions

Lanthanide elements(Ln)play an important role in industry and agriculture.As a result of the increasing consumption of lanthanides,environmental emission of Ln has become detrimental to the health of flora and fauna.Current methods for trace lanthanides detection mainly rely on sophisticated instruments.In this article,a Ln^(3+)dependent DNAzyme was incorporated into a hydrogel to generate Ln^(3+)sensitive DNAzyme hydrogel for portable colorimetric detection.The enzyme strand and its substrate strand act as crosslinker and functional unit of the hydrogel with polyacrylamide chains as the scaffold and gold nanoparticles(AuNPs)as the indicator of hydrogel stability.Any ions in the Ln^(3+)series can trigger the cleavage of substrate strand by activating the enzyme strand,thereby decreasing the crosslink ratio and leading to collapse of the hydrogel.The release of the encapsulated AuNPs turns the supernatant wine red.Using this colorimetric method,Ln^(3+)can be detected with high sensitivity,with a limit of detection(LOD)of 20 nM for Ce^(3+).The hydrogel responds specifically to any Ln^(3+)ion and works well with the spiked lake sample without the need of instruments and skilled operators.Our results suggest that the lanthanide responsive hydrogel can be used for portable and sensitive detection of Ln^(3+)contamination in the field.

Embedding lead halide perovskite quantum dots in carboxybenzene microcrystals improves stability

The stability of lead halide perovskite quantum dots （PQDs） was improved by embedding them in carboxybenzene microcrystals. The resulting needle-shaped mixed microcrystals preserved the strong photoluminescence of the PQDs. Compared with previously reported polystyrene-encapsulated PQDs, the carboxybenzene crystals were robust and protected the dots from moisture and photodegradation. The enhanced stability was attributed to the tight matrix of carboxybenzene microcrystals, which protected the PQDs from moisture. This versatile strategy protected various QDs, including all-inorganic PQDs and chalcogenide QDs （e.g., CdSe/ZnS QDs and CuInS/ZnS QDs）. It provides a facile and versatile method of protecting PQDs and may enable applications in solid-state systems with high color quality requirements such as displays, lasers, and light emitting diodes.

Colloidal CsPbBr3 perovskite nanocrystal films as electrochemiluminescence emitters in aqueous solutions

Perovskite nanocrystals （NCs）, which have emerged as a new class of phosphors with superb luminescence properties and bandgaps that can be easily tuned using chemical methods, have generated tremendous interest for a wide variety of applications where colloidal quantum dots have been very successful as carrier sources. In this study, self-assembled films of CsPbBr3 NCs were produced via drop casting of colloidal NCs onto glassy carbon electrodes （GCEs） to form an NC film-modified electrode. The possible fabrication process of the CsPbBr3 NCs films was discussed. We further studied the anodic electrochemiluminescence （ECL） behavior of the perovskite CsPbBr3 NCs film using cyclic voltammetry with tripropylamine （TPA） as a coreactant, and a possible ECL mechanism was proposed. Briefly, TPA was oxidized to produce strongly reducing radical spedes, which can react with electrochemically oxidized CsPbBr3 NCs to generate excited CsPbBr3 NCs＊ capable of light emission. The relative stability of the ECL emission of the CsPbBr3 NC films under aqueous conditions was also investigated, and it was found that they showed operational stability over the first three hours, indicating suitable reliability for application as sensing materials. The results suggested that semiconducting perovskite NCs have great potential for application in the ECL field.

Three dimensional phytic acid-induced graphene as a solid-phase microextraction fiber coating and its analytical applications for nerolidol in tea

In this work, three dimensional phytic acid-induced graphene coating was prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and fabricated on a stainless-steel wire using physical coating method as a solid phase microextraction （SPME） coating. The graphene coating revealed high specific surface area, extraordinary electrical conductivity and excellent chemical stability. Coupled with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector （GC-FID）, the home-made phytic acid-induced graphene SPME fiber exhibited excellent extraction efficiency for the analysis of nerolidol in tea samples. Under the optimized conditions, the linear range of working curve was found to be 1-1000 ng/g, and the limit of detection of nerolidol was 0.18 ng/g. The coefficient variation of repeatability for each single fiber and reproducibility for fiber to fiber was less than 3.9Yg and 8.3~, respectively.

Modulating ion current rectification generating high energy output in a single glass conical nanopore channel by concentration gradient

Inspired by biological systems that have the inherent skill to generate considerable bioelectricity from the salt content in fluids with highly selective ion channels and pumps on cell membranes, herein, a fully abiotic, single glass conical nanopores energy-harvesting is demonstrated. Ion current rectification （ICR） in negatively charged glass conical nanopores is shown to be controlled by the electrolyte concentration gradient depending on the direction of ion diffusion. The degree of ICR is enhanced with the increasing forward concentration difference. An unusual rectification inversion is observed when the concentration gradient is reversely applied. The maximum power output with the individual nanopore approaches 10^4pW. This facile and cost-efficient energy-harvesting system has the potential to power tiny biomedical devices or construct future clean-energy recovery plants.