Fluorescence enhancement of dysprosium, europium and terbium using sodium benzoate-trioctylphosphine oxide-Triton X-100

Abstract

The fluorescence of dysprosium, europium and terbium was enchanced by three to four orders of magnitude when these lanthanides were excited in the presence of sodium benzoate, trioctylphosphine oxide and Triton-X-100 in aqueous solution at pH ≈ 5.5. In all instances the excitation wavelength was ca. 280 nm, corresponding to the benzoate absorption. The enhancement of fluorescence leads to improved detection limits of 10^-9 M for terbium and 10^-8 M for dysprosium and europium.