Determination of trace amounts of uranyl ions is of great significance to environment and human health, but challenging. In this paper, we demonstrate a new approach for highly effective determination of uranyl ions by the probe of CdTe quantum dot (QD) with a specific size. The selectivity is relied on the probe of CdTe quantum dots; the selectivity, which was a function of QDs size, was optimum at 6.8 nm. The probe has a detection limit of 7.88 × 10⁻⁹ mol L⁻¹ and responded linearly to uranyl ion concentration in the range of 2.36 × 10⁻⁸ mol L⁻¹ ~ 4.00 × 10⁻⁷ mol L⁻¹. The mechanism can be probably attributed to the fact that uranyl ions could react with Te(0) on the surface of the quantum dots as large as 6.8 nm, resulting in fluorescence quenching. This work provides a new approach to detect uranyl ions in the aqueous solution by doing strip and real sample tests, and indicated the promise of this approach for real-time and in-situ detection of uranyl ions.

测定痕量的铀酰离子对环境和人类健康具有重要意义，但具有挑战性。在本文中，我们演示了一种通过特定尺寸的CdTe量子点（QD）探针高效测定铀酰离子的新方法。选择性取决于CdTe量子点的探针。选择性是QDs大小的函数，在6.8 nm时是最佳的。该探针具有的7.88×10的检测极限^-9摩尔大号^-1和2.36×10的范围内呈线性响应铀酰离子浓度^-8摩尔大号^-1〜4.00×10 ^-7摩尔大号^-1。该机制可能归因于铀酰离子可能与量子点表面上的6.8 nm大的Te（0）反应，从而导致荧光猝灭。这项工作提供了一种通过进行汽提和真实样品测试来检测水溶液中铀酰离子的新方法，并表明了这种方法对铀酰离子的实时和原位检测的希望。