An AIE fluorescence sensor based on amidoxime for rapid detection of uranyl ions in aqueous solutions

As the nuclear industry develops rapidly, radioactive elements such as uranium are also increasingly exposed to the environment, posing a threat to human health. Therefore, it is imperative to develop a simple and rapid method for detecting UO22+. In this work, a fluorescent probe, named TPE-ADX, was designed and synthesized for the rapid detection of uranyl ions in aqueous solutions by combining an amidoxime group as a recognized moiety with a tetraphenylene fluorophore as AIE moiety in a simple synthesis process. Along with the increasing uranyl ions, the significant fluorescence quenching effect could be observed and the TPE-ADX fluorescence probe endowed an ultra-low limit of detection (LOD = 7.9 nM), and rapid response time (1 min). A further application was successfully performed in detecting UO22+ in environmental aqueous solutions.