Blue-LED-excited Ce3+-doped alkaline-earth sulfide luminescent nanocrystals for selective and sensitive Fe3+ ions sensing

Novel blue LED excitable Ce3+-doped alkaline-earth sulfide nanocrystals are exploited for selective and sensitive Fe3+ ions sensing in this work. The detection limit is calculated to be as low as 92.5 nM, which is better than most previous ultra-violet light excited fluorescence probes. The decreased radiative probability of the Ce3+: 5d by the NC surface environmental variation activates the sensing capability.