CeO2 Nanowire-BODIPY-Adenosine Triphosphate Fluorescent Sensing Platform for Highly Specific and Sensitive Detection of Arsenate.

Effective and sensitive monitoring of arsenate in drinking water is significant for risk management of public health. Here, we demonstrated that a CeO2 nanowire acted as an efficient quencher for small fluorescent molecules with a phosphate group, BODIPY-adenosine triphosphate (BODIPY-ATP) and riboflavin-5'-phosphate (Rf-P), and developed a CeO2 nanowire-BODIPY-ATP platform for highly selective and sensitive detection of arsenate. The response strategy was based on the competitive coordination chemistry of CeO2 nanowire between arsenate and phosphate group of BODIPY-ATP. Arsenate displaced adsorbed BODIPY-ATP to enhance fluorescence, allowing detection of arsenate down to 7.8 nM, which is lower than the WHO-defined limit of 130 nM. An excellent linear range of 20-150 and 150-1000 nM was obtained. Importantly, this system was simple in design and convenient in operation. Also, the platform exhibited excellent selectivity for arsenate without the interference of phosphate ions. Finally, the proposed method had been successfully employed for determination of arsenate in real water samples.