Green and facile synthesis of polyethyleneimine-protected fluorescent silver nanoclusters for the highly specific biosensing of curcumin

In the present work, silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) were established as a nanosensor for fluorescence determination of curcumin (Cur) for the first time. The silver nanoclusters were prepared by using polyethyleneimine as the stabilizer and ascorbic acid as the reducing agent. It displayed green emission around 510 nm. The fluorescence quenching mechanism between Ag NCs and Cur was studied and might be attributed to the static quenching and inner filter effect (IFE). Furthermore, it was found that this fluorescence sensor possessed an excellent linear relationship with the Cur concentration in the ranges of 0.1−100 μM. This fluorescence detection method have been successfully used for the detection of Cur with satisfactory results in bovine serum samples. This novel platform was expected to expand the possibility of a new fluorescence detection method.