Green Emissive Molybdenum Nanoclusters for Selective and Sensitive Detection of Hydroxyl Radical in Water Samples

In this work, Cassia tora (C. tora) have been used as a template to synthesize green fluorescent C. tora molybdenum nanoclusters (C. tora-MoNCs) through a green chemistry approach. These C. tora-MoNCs showed a quantum yield (QY) of 7.72% and exhibited a significant emission peak at 498 nm when excited at 380 nm. The as-prepared C. tora-MoNCs had an average size of 3.48 ± 0.80 nm and showed different surface functionality. The as-synthesized C. tora-MoNCs were successfully identified the hydroxyl radical (^•OH) via a fluorescence quenching mechanism. Also, fluorescence lifetime and Stern-Volmer proved that after the addition of ^•OH radicals it was quenched the fluorescence intensity via a static quenching mechanism. The limit of detection is 9.13 nM, and this approach was successfully utilized for sensing ^•OH radicals in water samples with a good recovery rate.