Smart Wearable Fluorescence Sensing of Bacterial Pathogens and Toxic Contaminants by Eu³⁺-Induced Sodium Alginate/Ag Nanoparticle Aggregates

Abstract

Rapid detection of bacterial pathogens and toxic contaminants in the environment is essential for providing real-time results to mitigate potential safety hazards. This study prepared a wearable fabric sensing material based on fluorescent nanomaterials. The nano silver/europium complex is assembled layer by layer with sodium alginate to obtain nanoparticle aggregates with strong fluorescence, and then these are covalently bonded onto the cotton fabric surface to obtain the fluorescence cotton fabric (FCF). Via fluorescence quenching, FCF can sensitively sense Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and show good antibacterial activity. Besides, the selected transition metal ions can be detected qualitatively through the functional relationship between the fluorescence intensity and metal ion dose. The viability test of NIH3T3 cells showed that FCF had good biocompatibility. This fluorescent fabric sensing material has the characteristics of being wearable, antibacterial, and biocompatible. It realizes the real-time detection of bacteria and toxic metal ions and has great application prospects in environmental and biological monitoring.