Fluorescence Sensor Based on Lanthanide Nanostructure for Full Range Detection of Ethylene Glycol

The ethylene glycol (EG) proportion plays critical role in the performance of secondary refrigerant and antifreezing fluid. Here, we reported an accurate and fast optical detection engineering strategy of EG in aqueous solution by a proposed ligand-free active-core @ inert-shell lanthanide-doped up-conversion nanoparticles (CS-UCNPs). The relevant mechanism was proved to be the fluorescence quenching of up-conversion nanoparticles caused by the controllable energy transfer between up-conversion nanoparticles and H2O molecular. And the three successive steps of this process were confirmed and discussed in detail. Profit from the optical detection, these results provided a highly accurate, full range and stable approach in monitoring the EG proportion.