Assembly and copper ions detection of highly sensible and stable hydroxyapatite nanocomposite fluorescence probe

A novel hydroxyapatite (HAP)-fluorescein (FL) nanocomposite has been designed and assembled successfully as an efficient fluorescent probe for Cu²⁺ ions. Compared with a plain FL probe, the HAP-FL probe exhibits higher stability and sensitivity. The fluorescence intensity of the probe has shown a linear response to Cu²⁺ in the concentration range of 1 × 10^-3-1 × 10^-6 mol·l^-1 in an aqueous solution. These results indicate that the method based on the fluorescence quenching mechanism has enormous potential for the development of a highly efficient fluorescence probe for the detection of the heavy metal ions.