Design of As (III) Sensor via Liquid Crystalline Film doped with Biomass-Derived Carbon Dot

Abstract

Contamination of the water and soil by arsenic (As3+) has been a global issue because high concentration of As3+ (> 10 μg L-1) can cause skin cancers. However, several methods for As3+ detection are not affordable for the third world’s people suffering from As3+ poisoning due to high cost and complex procedure. In this study, we propose a simple and versatile design of liquid crystal (LC) sensor that can optically report the presence of As3+ in aqueous systems. Specifically, the sensor is comprised of LC film and their LC-aqueous interface is decorated with biomass-derived carbon dots (BCDs) coated with L-cysteine. The selective adsorption of As3+ by L-cysteine in BCDs cause molecular reorientation of LCs, leading to a macroscopic optical signal. Thus, the use of inexpensive BCDs and autonomously optically reporting LCs can overcome the limits of conventional As3+ sensors. This work was supported by the Korea National Research Foundation (NRF-2020K1A3A1A21040504 & 2021R1A4A1030944)