Biomass-based indole derived fluorescence sensor composited with cellulose paper: Detection of picric acid in food and environment samples

Picric acid (PA) is highly water-soluble, the fact makes it stand out as the most hazardous environment pollutant. Therefore, accurate determination of PA is of great significance for human health and environmental protection. Herein, a novel indole-based fluorescent sensor (H1) with good water solubility and fluorescence stability was reported. H1 exhibited ‘turn-off’ fluorescence response for PA with fast reaction rate (<30 s), unique specificity and excellent selectivity and high sensitivity (limit of detection = 34 nM). Further, H1 was successfully applied to detect PA in real samples (tap water, Yangtze River, Xuanwu Lake, soil, food, fish and shrimp) with satisfactory recoveries at three spiking levels ranging from 98.0 to 112.0 %. In addition, H1 displayed high biocompatibility in mung beans and fresh blood. Moreover, aiming to attain portable analysis, H1 was composited with biomass cellulose paper (H1-FP) and integrated with smartphone for construction as a solid-state fluorescence platform to achieve fast and visual detection of PA in suit with significant stability, high sensitively and selectivity. The establishment of this sensing approach is expected to offer new insight into rapid, selective, and sensitive detection of major pollutants for food and environmental safety.