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An aqueous ammonia detection by hybrid Ag-CdS quantum dots

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Abstract

Surface plasmons are one of the most important aspects of nano-photonics, which studies the features of incident electromagnetic light radiation with the metallic nanoparticles (NPs) when the size of NPs becomes smaller than the wavelength of the light. Organic dyes or fluorophores are generally used for the sensing purpose, but quantum dots (QDs) can also be utilized as an alternate for optical sensing. A novel detection system based on the photoluminescence (PL) enhancement of Ag-CdS QDs for the direct measurement of ammonia solution (NH4OH). The present work focuses on the fabrication of hybrid Ag-CdS QDs solution which behaves as an optical sensor for NH4OH. The synthesized samples were characterized by PL spectroscopy for their optical properties and transmission electron microscopy for their morphological studies. This is an effective method which exhibits the effect of concentration of NH4OH on the emission intensity of Ag-CdS QDs. Due to the presence of Ag NPs in the prepared samples of hybrid Ag-CdS QDs, the experimental results showed an enhancement in the emission intensity by adding NH4OH with varying concentration from 30 (0.03 M) to 870 mM (0.87 M). Strong enhancement in PL intensity is observed as we further increase the concentration of NH4OH from 1 to 4.5 M. The results presented here provide the rapid fabrication of an ultra-low-cost, simple and reproducible ammonia sensor to minimize the exposure to diseases by continuous monitoring of water quality.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the Director, National institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, for all the facilities and also thankful to CSIR, New Delhi, for giving funding in the form of project (03(1440)/18/EMR-II).

Funding

The research was financially supported by the Director, National institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, and CSIR, New Delhi.

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  1. Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, India

    Kanika Khurana & Neena Jaggi

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  1. Kanika Khurana
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  2. Neena Jaggi
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Both authors have the same contributions.

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Correspondence to Neena Jaggi.

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Khurana, K., Jaggi, N. An aqueous ammonia detection by hybrid Ag-CdS quantum dots. J Nanopart Res 24, 216 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-022-05600-6

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