Integration of Rhodamine B into Zirconium-based Metal-organic Framework for Selective Detection of Ferric Ion

Rhodamine B ( RhB) dyes usually have no selectivity in fluorescence detection of Fe3+, which limits their application in analytical detection. In this study, a composite material (RhB@ PCN-777) with RhB encapsulated in a zirconium-based organic framework (PCN-777) channel was synthesized and applied to the specific detection of Fe3+ in water. Compared with free RhB, RhB @ PCN-777 exhibited drastically improved fluorescence stability and high selectivity for the determination of Fe3+. RhB@ PCN-777 composite featured a yellow emission at 586 nm when dispersed in aqueous solution, which could detect Fe3+ in water with high sensitivity and selectivity, with a detection limit as low as 0.16 mu mol/L. Moreover, RhB@ PCN-777 was successfully used to detect Fe3+ in real water samples with recoveries ranging from 94.2% to 103.9% , indicating that the fluorescent probe had high reliability in actual environmental aqueous samples.