Construction of a Multifunctional Paper-Based Fluorescent Material for the Detection and Adsorption of Formaldehyde

Abstract

Indoor air pollution is one of the significant inducing factors of some diseases, such as leukemia, tumor, respiratory disease, and kidney failure. Among these contaminants, formaldehyde has long releasing span and great threat to our health. However, there are limited methods for formaldehyde elimination and detection. Herein, a new paper-based multifunctional fluorescent material was constructed for the high efficiency removal and detection of formaldehyde simultaneously. The paper-based material was constructed by polyethyleneimine (PEI) and a highly sensitive ratiometric fluorescent probe (FP). The paper-based material can detect formaldehyde with remarkable fluorescence change, the fluorescence at 450 nm decreased by over 75% and the fluorescence of FP in ratiometric channel increased by over 100-fold. The formaldehyde elimination rate is up to 99%. By combination of the porous network structures of paper, the plenty of amino group in PEI, and the highly sensitive fluorescent response of FP, the multifunctional fluorescent paper material can be successfully used to formaldehyde removal and detection.

Keywords: Formaldehyde, fluorescence detection, Adsorption, paper-based material