title: The use of tungsten disulfide dots as highly selective, fluorescent probes for analysis of nitrofurazone.
abstract: Tungsten disulfide (WS2) is a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide, which is of particular interest because it has highly anisotropic bonding, which leads to strongly anisotropic electrical and mechanical properties. Thus, in this work, a simple hydrothermal process was developed to produce photoluminescence from WS2 dots. This was achieved in the presence of sodium tungstate and reduced L-glutathione; the emitted fluorescence produced a quantum yield as high as 0.066. The WS2 dots and the associated fluorescence were investigated with the use of transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared and UV-vis spectroscopies. The WS2 dots were used as a fluorescent probe to analyze nitrofurazone (NFZ). The associated fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism was also investigated and the emitted fluorescence was found to be linear in the range of 0.17-166 μmol L(-1) with a detection limit of 0.055 μmol L(-1). The proposed method was successfully applied for analysis of NFZ in nasal drops and water samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Xinrong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Fangying
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China; State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China. Electronic address: ynni@ncu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yongnian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4001, Australia. Electronic address: s.kokot@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kokot
keywords: Fluorescence analysis; Nitrofurazone; Tungsten disulfide dots