A novel multifunctional Tb-MOF fluorescent probe displaying excellent abilities for highly selective detection of Fe3+, Cr2O72− and acetylacetone

Abstract Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) show the pre-eminence over other traditional fluorescent probes in the detection of water contaminants. Here, a novel lanthanide metal-organic framework Tb-MOF was successfully constructed by anchoring Tb3+ and 4,4'-(4-amino-1,2,4-triazol-3,5-diyl)dibenzoic acid (H2atdbc) which exhibited high chemical stability and water stability. Furthermore, sensing experiments showed that Tb-MOF could be used as a multifunctional probe to detect Fe3+ (LOD ​= ​5.01 ​× ​10-7 ​mol ​L-1, Ksv ​= ​1.28 ​× ​104 ​L ​mol-1), Cr2O72− (LOD ​= ​2.92 ​× ​10-6 ​mol ​L-1, Ksv ​= ​8454.37 ​L ​mol-1) and acetylacetone (LOD ​= ​5.59 ​× ​10-4 ​mol ​L-1, Ksv ​= ​12.32 ​L ​mol-1) separately. PXRD, ICP-MS, IR and UV–vis spectra were conducted to explore the detection mechanisms. The experiments showed that the detection mechanism for Fe3+ was energy transfer and ion exchange, and the detection mechanisms for Cr2O72− and acetylacetone were energy transfer.