title: Fluorescent silver nanoclusters as effective probes for highly selective detection of mercury(II) at parts-per-billion levels.
abstract: Facile preparation of water-soluble and fluorescent Ag nanoclusters (NCs) stabilized by glutathione at room temperature is described. Although the glutathione layer was introduced to prevent the silver nanoparticles from decomposition and increase their water solubility, this simple surface optimization resulted in surprisingly high efficiency of selective Hg(2+)  sensing, where the limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 10(-10)  M (0.02 ppb, 0.1 nM). This result revealed a simple and practical strategy for Hg(2+)  detection using fluorescent Ag NCs as sensor probe, with the lowest detecting limits reported to date.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, PR China.
authors.forename: Chuanxi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Fengxia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Bai
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang