A sensing approach for manganese ion detection by carbon dots nanocomposite thin film-based surface plasmon resonance sensor

Although plenty of carbon dots have been synthesized by many kinds of synthesis methods, their potential in metal sensing applications is still limited. Herein, the application of carbon dotscellulose nanocrystals (CDs-CNC) thin film towards manganese ions sensing was demonstrated experimentally using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor. The experimental results showed that the CDs-CNC thin film-based SPR sensor provides the detection of parts per billion concentrations of Mn2+ in an aqueous solution with high sensitivity response of 0.0534 degrees ppb-1. The thickness and refractive index of thin films were then determined by fitting the experimental SPR spectra using the WinSpall simulation program. The proposed CDs-CNC thin film-based SPR sensor exhibit better sensing performance in comparison to the previous film-based sensor, suggesting the suitable technology candidate for environmental monitoring applications.