NanoPOP: Solution-Processable Fluorescent Porous Organic Polymer for Highly Sensitive, Selective, and Fast Naked Eye Detection of Mercury.

Fluorescence-based detection is one of the most efficient and cost-effective methods for detecting hazardous, aqueous Hg. We designed a fluorescent porous organic polymer (TPA-POP-TSC), with a "fluorophore" backbone and a thiosemicarbazide "receptor" for Hg-targeted sensing. Nanometer-sized TPA-POP-TSC spheres (nanoPOP) were synthesized under mini-emulsion conditions and showed excellent solution processability and dispersity in aqueous solution. The nanoPOP sensor exhibits exceptional sensitivity ( = 1.01 × 10 M) and outstanding selectivity for Hg over other ions with rapid response and full recyclability. Furthermore, the nanoPOP material can be easily coated onto a paper substrate to afford naked eye-based Hg-detecting test strips that are convenient, inexpensive, fast, highly sensitive, and reusable. Our design takes advantage of the efficient and selective capture of Hg by thiosemicarbazides (binding energy = -29.84 kJ mol), which facilitates electron transfer from fluorophore to bound receptor, quenching the sensor's fluorescence.