Synthesis of nucleus-satellite like Ag nanoparticles based on dielectric barrier discharge system for prolonged chemiluminescence imaging of mercury ions

Noble metal nanomaterials were unique in the field of chemiluminescence (CL) because of their high catalytic activity and surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Herein, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes modified silver nanoparticles (POSS-Ag NPs) were firstly synthesized by dielectric barrier discharge system within 40 min. Amino modified POSS (AE-POSS), as both a reducing agent and protective agent, was bonded to the surface of Ag NPs to stabilized Ag NPs through the three-dimensional framework structure to form “nucleus-satellite” like structures, which specially showed enhanced CL intensity due to increased specific surface area and SPR characteristics. Subsequently, a prolonged CL signal for over 1 h by POSS-Ag NPs - luminol system happened, which could be well observed in the CL imaging. The presence of Ag0/Ag+ and O2/·O2– charge cycling transfer on the surface of POSS-Ag NPs continuously provided large amounts of catalysts (Ag0) and CL reactants (Ag+), continuously reacting with luminol to greatly prolong the CL reaction time. Significantly, due to the mercury (Hg)-Ag alloys production in Ag NPs solution to inhibit catalytic and SPR effects, this intense and long-time CL system for the specific imaging detection of Hg2+ was developed. The detection limit of this method was 3 × 10−8 M. The enhanced prolonged CL phenomenon could improve the accuracy of chemical analysis and have promising applications in CL imaging.