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arXiv · 2311.07581

Crown ether decorated silicon photonics for safeguarding against lead poisoning

Luigi Ranno·Yong Zen Tan·Chi Siang Ong·Xin Guo·Khong Nee Koo·Xiang Li·Wanjun Wang·Samuel Serna·Chongyang Liu·Rusli·Callum G. Littlejohns·Graham T. Reed·Juejun Hu·Hong Wang·Jia Xu Brian Sia
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Abstract

Lead (Pb2+) toxification in society is one of the most concerning public health crisis that remains unaddressed. The exposure to Pb2+ poisoning leads to a multitude of enduring health issues, even at the part-per-billion scale (ppb). Yet, public action dwarfs its impact. Pb2+ poisoning is estimated to account for 1 million deaths per year globally, which is in addition to its chronic impact on children. With their ring-shaped cavities, crown ethers are uniquely capable of selectively binding to specific ions. In this work, for the first time, the synergistic integration of highly-scalable silicon photonics, with crown ether amine conjugation via Fischer esterification in an environmentally-friendly fashion is demonstrated. This realises a photonic platform that enables the in-situ, highly-selective and quantitative detection of various ions. The development dispels the existing notion that Fischer esterification is restricted to organic compounds, laying the ground for subsequent amine conjugation for various crown ethers. In this work, the platform is engineered for Pb2+ detection, demonstrating a large dynamic detection range of 1 - 262000 ppb with high selectivity against a wide range of relevant ions. These results indicate the potential for the pervasive implementation of the technology to safeguard against ubiquitous lead poisoning in our society.

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Luigi Ranno, Yong Zen Tan, Chi Siang Ong, Xin Guo, Khong Nee Koo, Xiang Li, Wanjun Wang, Samuel Serna, Chongyang Liu, Rusli, Callum G. Littlejohns, Graham T. Reed, Juejun Hu, Hong Wang, Jia Xu Brian Sia. 2023-10-31. Crown ether decorated silicon photonics for safeguarding against lead poisoning. https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.07581

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