A facile and efficient method for rapid detection of trace nitroaromatics in aqueous solution

A novel photoluminescence (PL) quenching-based optical chemosensor has been developed for the sensing of nitroaromatic contaminants in aqueous solutions. ZnO clusters have been easily doped into mesoporous silica films. The presence of nitroaromatic compounds such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and nitrophenol can be rapidly detected from the quenching of the visible emission of the ZnO semiconductor doped in the mesoporous films. The emission quenching is quantitative and can be analyzed on the basis of the Stern–Volmer model relation with the quenching process of ZnO and organic molecules. Due to the good permeability and adsorptive properties, the PL mesoporous films exhibit remarkable sensitivity for the detection of these organic molecules at low concentration levels. These results suggest that these new mesostructured composite films are potentially useful chemosensory materials for detecting nitroaromatic pollutants in water.