Abstract:
Nanoparticles have taken a major place in nanoscience and nanotechnology fields because of their relevant properties including their small size and unique structure. Since copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) can be synthesized with low cost preparation, they have been used intensively in many fields such as, reduction catalysis, sensing and water treatment. In this work, a simple green synthesis route is applied to produce copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) ,40-100 nm, and copper oxide nanograins (CuO NGs) by using curcumin, a natural and non-toxic food spice, as conjugating and supporting agent in the presence of different stabilizing/capping agents. Moreover, all the prepared CuO NPs were characterized via Scanning electron microscopy coupled to EDX, Thermogravimetirc analysis, X-ray diffraction, UV-Visible, Resonance Rayleigh scattering, Dynamic light scattering and Zeta potential. Firstly, CuO NPs were formed using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a stabilizing agent. Then, they were used as nano-catalysts for the reduction of methylene blue dye giving t1/2 equal to 5.9 minutes. Secondly, CuO NPs were properly functionalized with the supramolecular host molecule, curcubit[6]uril (CB[6]), which can bind acridine orange (AO) via its carbonyl rims. The fluorescence intensity of acridine orange is quenched by the CuO NPs through Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) phenomenon. By the addition of dopamine, dopamine adsorbs on the surface of CuO NPs and desorbs AO, enhancing fluorescence intensity of AO by a factor of 3. Finally, resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) technique was used to detect efficiently different analytes including cystine amino acid using CuO NPs prepared in the presence of glutathione as a capping agent, mercury ions using CuO NPs prepared in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) (F108) polymer as a stabilizing agent, and persulfate ions using CuO NPs prepared in the presence of CTAB as surfactant.
