Cellulose Acetate Fabrics Loaded with Rhodamine B Hydrazide for Optical Detection of Cu(II)

In this work, different materials were fabricated from cellulose acetate, loaded with
rhodamine B hydrazide and tested as Cu(II) optical sensor. We prepared membranes displaying a
sub-micron porous structure using the phase inversion technique, clusters of fibers with varying
diameter depending on the preparation procedure using electrospinning, and casted films presenting a
smooth non porous structure. Loading of rhodamine B hydrazide on the fabrics after their production
was found to be the best procedure to ensure the stability of the dye in the polymeric materials.
Absorption and emission analysis of the solid substrates revealed the presence of the dye on the porous
fabrics and allowed to choose the most suited materials and loading conditions to test their response
towards Cu(II) ions. Reaction of the loaded rhodamine B hydrazide with Cu(II) was confirmed by
absorption and emission spectroscopies and by confocal fluorescence imaging, through detection
of the product rhodamine B. The results point to promising sensing applications of the prepared
composite materials.