A facile synthetic strategy to engineer improved fluorescent quantum yield, colloidally stable, and low toxic Cu nanoclusters is introduced. These nanoclusters have the potential to be used as excellent bioimaging probes.
The existence of toxic, non-biodegradable organic pollutants in wastewater has become an indisputable and global remark for environmental problem. Interesting works have been performed on engineering/designing novel nano-catalyst to replace well-known Fe-fenton system in the degradation of such pollutants where the residual iron limits their wide application. Alternatively, Cu based materials have been explored in waste-water management mainly due to their ease of availability, cost-effectiveness, and efficient oxidative catalytic activity. However, synthesis of such pure phase water-soluble monodispersed Cu-based nanoparticles is challenging. In this study, we reported the synthesis of monodispersed covellite bovine serum albumin functionalized - copper sulfide (BSA-CuS) nanoparticles by simple thermal decomposition process. As-synthesized nanoparticles were characterized through advanced techniques such as UV-Visible spectra, XRD, FT-IR, HR-TEM and XPS. Finally, their potential for enhanced oxidative catalytic performance was investigated through experimental and theoretical studies for the degradation of wide range of dyes such as anionic dye, cationic dye, and industry effluent, which are commonly present in wastewater as contaminant.
Metal Nanoclusters (NCs) composed of the least number of atoms (few to tens) became very attractive for their emerging properties owing to their ultrasmall size. Preparing copper nanoclusters (Cu NCs) in an aqueous medium with high emission properties, strong colloidal stability, and low toxicity has been a long-standing challenge. Although they are earth-abundant and inexpensive, they are comparatively less explored due to their limitations such as ease of surface oxidation, poor colloidal stability, and high toxicity. To overcome these constraints, we established a facile synthetic route by optimizing the reaction parameters, especially altering the effective concentration of the reducing agent to influence their optical characteristics. The improvement of photoluminescence intensity and superior colloidal stability was modeled from a theoretical standpoint. Moreover, the as-synthesized Cu NCs showed a significant reduction of toxicity in both in vitro and in vivo models. The possibilities of using such Cu NCs as a diagnostic probe towards C. elegans were explored. Also, the extension of our approach towards improving the photoluminescence intensity of the Cu NCs on other ligand systems was demonstrated.
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