A simple one-pot microwave-assisted synthesis method of gold nanoclusters was developed by employing chicken egg white as reducing/capping reagent.
The resultant AuNCs showed strong emission at 667 nm with quantum yield of 7.23%, large Stokes shift (>350 nm) and microsecond-scale lifetime.
The EW@AuNCs probe exhibits remarkable selectivity and ultra-high sensitivity toward Hg2+ with a detection limit as low as 20 pM.