A novel gel sensor based on chitosan/SiO2 composite film for the selective detection of Al3+

Chitosan (CS)/SiO2 composites film were synthesized by the sol-gel method in the moderate environment. The polymer composites were characterized by FTIR, UV-Visible, SEM, TEM and DSC techniques. SiO2 nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously within the sphericity. Significantly, the resultant CS/SiO2 composites film showed the specific fluorescence response to Al3+ over than other metal ions. CS/SiO2 gel sensor exhibits a detection range from 0mg/L to 8.82×10-4mg/L (LOD=1.4×10−5 mg/L). The gel sensor was successfully used for the detection of Al3+ in water samples. Therefore, the gel sensor had a broad application prospect in other promising applications such as environmental quality and food safety monitoring.