Gd(III)-Doped Boehmite Nanoparticle: An Emergent Material for the Fluorescent Sensing of Cr(VI) in Wastewater and Live Cells

This article reports the effect of Gd­(III) doping on the structure, microstructure, and optical properties of boehmite nanoparticles. The bright-blue fluorescence along with a long lifetime makes our material an efficient candidate for optical applications. Our material particularly targets and eliminates hexavalent chromium ions (Cr­(VI)) from aqueous media, which turns it into a multifunctional fluorescent nanosensor (MFNS). The development of an efficient hexavalent chromium ion (Cr­(VI)) sensor to detect and quantify Cr­(VI) ions is still a serious issue worldwide. Thus, this work will be very beneficial for various environmental applications. No such work has been reported so far which includes cost-effective and biocompatible boehmite nanoparticles in this field. Detailed synthesis and characterization procedures for the MFNS have been incorporated here. The biocompatibility of the MFNS has also been studied rigorously by performing cell survivability assay (MTT) and cellular morphology assessments. Our extensive research confirmed that the “turn-off” sensing mechanism of this sensor material is based on a collisional quenching model which initiates the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process. High selectivity and sensitivity (∼1.05 × 10^–5 M) of the MFNS toward hexavalent chromium ions even in real life wastewater samples have been confirmed, which makes this fluorescent probe a potential candidate for new age imaging and sensing technologies.