A FRET Fluorescent Sensor for Ratiometric and Visual Detection of Sulfide Based on Carbon Dots and Silver Nanoclusters

In this work, the fluorescent sensor based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and electrostatic interaction (EI) was prepared for the ratiometric and visual detecting S^2–. The FRET fluorescent sensor consists of two fluorophores, with carbon dots (CDs) as energy donors and silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) as acceptors. At 390 nm excitation, CDs and Ag NCs showed two well-separated peaks at 445 nm and 660 nm, separately. The existence of S^2– caused the red fluorescence at 660 nm to be quenched, whereas the blue fluorescence at 445 nm was restored, and the fluorescence color of the ratiometric sensor changed from pink to blue. It could be employed in ratiometric and visual detecting S^2–. The linear range of quantitative detection S^2– was 0.5–100 μM, and its detection limit was 0.35 μM. CDs-Ag NCs could be used for detecting S^2– in mineral water and tap water. The results showed that the FRET ratiometric fluorescent sensor exhibits good anti-interference and high selectivity for detecting S^2– in environmental water samples.