Rhodamine 6G loaded zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanocomposites for highly selective luminescent sensing of Fe3+, Cr6+ and aniline

Fluorescence-based probes exhibit apparent superiority in high sensitivity, selectivity and easy operation. As a typical representative of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), highly porous ZIF-8 has attracted intense interests because of its potential applications. In this work, the organic dye Rhodamine 6G (R6G) loaded ZIF-8 nanocomposites were prepared and well characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and N2 adsorption. The R6G loaded ZIF-8 ([email protected]) nanocomposites exhibit intense luminescence with wide wavelength band in the visible light region. The luminescent detections of metal ions, anions, organic small molecules and polyoxometalates were fully studied using the as-synthesized [email protected] nanocomposites as sensory materials. Strikingly, the luminescent detections indicate that [email protected] nanocomposites are capable of highly selective sensing of Fe3+, highly toxic Cr6+ and organic aniline with a low detection limit of 5 μM, 50 μM and 5 mM, respectively. More significantly, luminescence quenching and recovery tests demonstrate that [email protected] nanomaterials are reusable for the detections of Fe3+, Cr6+ and organic aniline.