Development of Hard Water Sensor using Fluorescence

tuition of Hard Water Sensor using FluorescencePh.D. Thesis Dibyendu DeyDevelopment of serious water sensor using fluorescence resonance force transfer7.1. IntroductionHard water has high mineral content in oppose to soft water. Generally the hard water is not harmful to ones health, but whoremonger cause serious problems in industrial settings, where water abrasiveness should be monitored to avoid breakdowns of the costly equipments that handle water. The hardness of water is determined by the closeness of multivalent cations in water. The most unwashed cations found in hard water include Ca2+ and Mg2+. The nominal head of dissolved carbonate minerals (CaCO3 and MgCO3) provide a temporary hardness in water, which can be reduced either by boiling the water or by addition of lime (calcium hydroxide) 1, 2. On the other hand the dissolved chloride minerals (CaCl2 and MgCl2) cause the lasting hardness of water that can not be removed easily, as it becomes more soluble as the te mperature increases 3. In that sense it is actually important to spot the permanent hardness of water before use.The exertion phenomenon may be very effective tool for the designing of hard water sensors. Based on the strike surrounded by two laser dyes here we demonstrated a hard water sensor. To the best of our knowledge this could be the first attempt, where call off touch has been used for the detection of the hardness of water. FRET between two molecules is an important physical phenomenon, where transfer of energy from an excited fluorophore to a suitable acceptor fluorophore occurred 4, 5. This technique is very important for the understanding of some biological systems and has potential applications in optoelectronic and thin film devices 610. Combining FRET with optical microscopy, it is possible to determine the approach between two molecules within nanometers. The main requirements for the FRET to occur are (i) sufficient overlap between the absorption band of acc eptor fluorophore and the fluorescence band of conferrer fluorophore and (ii) both the donor and acceptor molecule must be in close proximity of the establish of 110 nm 4, 5. The intervening of solvent or other macromolecules has minor effect on the FRET aptitude. If the distance between the donor and acceptor changes then FRET efficacy also changes.In this chapter of the present thesis we tried to check over the effect of Mg2+ or Ca2+ or both on the FRET capability between two fluorophores, Acf and RhB in front line of nanoclay sheet laponite. Here we have chosen Mg2+ or Ca2+ because the presence of these two cations mainly determines the extent of hardness of the water. Our investigation showed that FRET cogency decreases with increasing salt concentproportionn. It has also been demonstrated that with proper calibration, FRET between Acf and RhB can be used to sense the hardness of water.7.2. Experimental7.2.1. Solution preparationBoth the dyes Acf and RhB were used in our studies are cationic in nature. The clay mineral used in the present work was Laponite. tinge solutions were prepared in Milli-Q water. For spectroscopic measurement the solution concentration was optimized at 106M. In say to check the effect of hard water components (Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions) on spectral charecteristics, MgCl2 and CaCl2 were added to the dye solution. The clay dispersion was prepared using Millipore water and ruttish for 24 h with a magnetic stirrer followed by 30 min ultrasonication before use. The concentration of clay was kept fixed at 2 ppm throughout the experiment. To check the effect of clay on the spectral characteristics the dye solutions (Acf and RhB) were prepared in the clay suspensions (2 ppm). In order to check the effect of salt on spectral characteristics in presence of clay, first of all the salts were added in the clay dispersion at varied concentration. Then the dyes were added in the salt complicated clay dispersions. In all cases the clay co ncentration was 2 ppm and the dye concentration was 106M.7. 3. Results and discussion7.3.1. Sensing of Hard Water by FRETFRET between Acf and RhB has already been canvas and the go forths are shown in details in chapter 5 of this thesis. Here in this chapter we have used this same FRET pair for the sensing of water hardness. Our main purpose is to detect CaCl2 and MgCl2 or their compartmentalization as a permanent hard water component in aqueous solution by using the FRET process between Acf and RhB. Fluorescence spectra of aqueous solution of Acf-RhB concoction in presence of MgCl2, CaCl2 and their mixture (CaCl2+MgCl2) have been studied (figure 7.1). For all the cases, the concentration of CaCl2/MgCl2/their mixture was kept at 0.06 mg/ml, which is the initializing concentration of hard water known as moderately hard water.Fig. 7.1. Fluorescence spectra of Acf+RhB (11 account book ratio) in water solution (1), with MgCl2 (2), CaCl2 (3), and CaCl2+MgCl2 (4), pure Acf (5), pure RhB (6). Dye concentration was 10-6M and salt concentration was 0.06 mg/ml.It was observed that the transfer of energy from Acf to RhB decreased in presence of salt (shown in table 7.1). The FRET efficiencies are calculated by using the Frster theory. The accounting entry of cationic Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions in the solution may cause an increase in the electrostatic repulsion between cationic Acf and RhB molecules which can result in a stupendous intermolecular separation. Accordingly, the FRET efficiency decreases.SamplesE%Acf+RhB11.37Acf+RhB+ CaCl21.7Acf+RhB+ MgCl25.2Acf+RhB+ MgCl2 +CaCl24.38Acf+RhB+clay78.17Acf+RhB+ CaCl2 with clay37.78Acf+RhB+ MgCl2 with clay51.59Acf+RhB+ MgCl2 +CaCl2 with clay48.18Table 7.1 Values of energy transfer efficiency (E %) for Acf and RhB mixture (11 volume ratio) in different conditions. The salt concentration was 0.06 mg/ml (moderately hard water).Fig. 7.2. Fluorescence spectra of Acf+RhB (11 volume ratio) in clay suspension (1), with MgCl2 (2), CaCl2 ( 3), and CaCl2+MgCl2 (4) pure Acf with clay (5), pure RhB with clay (6). Dye concentration was 10-6M and clay concentration was 2 ppm and salt concentration was 0.06 mg/ml.In the present study our aim is to design a sensor which can sense the presence of Ca2+ or Mg2+ or both by observing the change in FRET efficiency. Accordingly it is very important to have large FRET efficiency between Acf and RhB as well as noticeable change in FRET efficiency between Acf and RhB due to the introduction of hard water components (Ca2+ or Mg2+), so that we can use it as a hard water sensor with minimum error level. Accordingly in order to enhance the FRET efficiency, we have incorporated nano clay laponite in Acf-RhB mixture (figure 7.2). It has been observed that the FRET efficiency increases in presence of laponite particle. The reason of increase in FRET efficiecy in presence of clay has been explained in details in chapter 5. It was also observed that the transfer of energy from Acf to RhB decre ases quite remarkably due to the introduction of CaCl2/MgCl2/their mixture for the concentration of 0.06 mg/ml in presence of clay. It was observed that the transfer of energy is much smaller due to the presence of CaCl2 in differentiate to MgCl2. (Table 7.1 summarize the calculated efficiencies).Fig. 7.3. Schematic representation of FRET between Acf and RhB in presence of clay and salt.The decrease in FRET between Acf and RhB in presence of hard water components, must involve the reaction of the cations (Ca2+ and Mg2+) present in hard water with the clay minerals through cation exchange reaction. In general, this bonding energy is of the order Ca Mg K H Na. Thus the probability of adsorption of Ca2+ in clay suspension is more than Mg2+. The tendency of Ca2+ ion to interact with the negatively charged clay layers is more studyd to Mg2+ ion of same concentration of both clay suspension and salt solution. Accordingly, most of the negative charges in the clay surfaces are modify by Ca2+ ion compared to Mg2+ ion and there exists very few unoccupied negative charges on the clay surface for the cationic dye molecules to be adsorbed. As a result the separation between the cationic dye molecules increases more in CaCl2 solution rather than MgCl2 leading to a less FRET in presence of CaCl2 compare to MgCl2 (shown schemetically in figure 7.3).7.3.2. Variation of salt concentrationIn order to check the extent of hardness on the FRET efficiency, we have measured the fluorescence spectra of Acf+RhB mixture with different salt (MgCl2, CaCl2, and MgCl2+CaCl2 mixture) concentration in presence of clay laponite and the FRET efficiency have been calculated. It has been observed that the FRET efficiency decreases with increasing salt concentration of either MgCl2 or CaCl2, or their mixture (figure 7.4). This result suggests that it is possible to sense the hardness of water by observing the change in FRET efficiency with salt concentration.Fig. 7.4. The fluorescence spect ra of AcfRhB mixture in presence of clay with varying amount of salt (MgCl2+CaCl2 mixture) concentration viz. 0.05 mg/ml (1), 0.06 mg/ml (2) and 0.12 mg/ml (3). Inset shows the variation of FRET efficiency as a function of salt concentration of either MgCl2 or CaCl2, or CaCl2+ MgCl2 mixture from 0.03 mg/ml to 0.20 mg/ml.Salt concentration(mg/ml)FRET efficiency (E%) in presence ofMgCl2CaCl2MgCl2+CaCl2 mixture0.0378.5264.2773.730.0571.5555.3268.340.0651.5937.7848.180.0832.4718.7521.570.1219.6710.5413.480.2011.345.6707.38Table 7.2 Values of energy transfer efficiency (E %) for Acf-RhB mixture (11 volume ratio) at different salt (MgCl2, CaCl2, MgCl2+CaCl2 mixture) concentration in presence of clay. MgCl2 and CaCl2 mixture were prepared by adding 11 volume ratio of individual salts of same concentration.7.3.3. Design of sensorIn the process of hard water sensing first of all clay (laponite) dispersion will be prepared using the sample water followed by addition of dyes (Acf and RhB). By observing the FRET efficiency between Acf and RhB it would be possible to sense the hardness of the test water.Fig. 7.5. FRET efficiency of Acf-RhB mixture for the different concentration of CaCl2 + MgCl2 in presence of clay (values of FRET efficiencies were calculated from spectra of Fig. 7.4).From figure 7.5 it has been observed that the FRET efficiency for 0.06 mg/ml and 0.12 mg/ml concentration are 48.2% and 13.5% respectively. If the FRET efficiency is observed to be higher than 48.2%, then the water will be recognized as soft water whereas, if the efficiency lies in between 13.5% and 48.2% then the water will be recognized as moderately hard. On the other hand if the observed FRET efficiency is less than 13.5% then the water will be recognized as very hard. Therefore with proper calibration it is possible to design a hard water sensor which can sense hard water very easily.7.4. ConclusionIn order to demonstrate hard water sensor based on FRET, we have investigated the FRET bet ween Acf and RhB in presence of salts CaCl2 or MgCl2 or both. It was observed that the presence of hard water components Ca2+ or Mg2+ or both affected the FRET efficiency to a large extent. In presence of CaCl2 or MgCl2 the FRET efficiency is decreased to 37.78% and 51.59%, respectively. With suitable calibration of these results it is possible to design a hard water sensor that can sense the water hardness within the verify 0.030.2 mg/ml. Here the incorporation of clay platelate laponite enhances the sensing efficiency.