{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T08:46:10Z","timestamp":1785746770344,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"15","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Major Program (JD) of Hubei Province","award":["2025BEA005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025BEA005"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003819","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2024AFB448"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024AFB448"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003819","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Materials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Phosphogypsum (PG) is a major solid by-product generated during wet-process phosphoric acid production. Its stockpiling poses significant environmental risks due to the potential leaching of harmful substances. Therefore, conversion of PG into high-value-added products is urgent. In this work, nano-calcium carbonate (Nano-CaCO3) was synthesized from PG via a phase-transfer precipitation method. The surface of the as-prepared product was then modified for Hg2+ detection. Initially, the nanoparticle surface was functionalized with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES), followed by grafting with a synthesized rhodamine B-based derivative (RhoB-NCS). The acquired product was denoted as CaCO3@RhoB-NCS. Physical characterization demonstrated its successful fabrication. The product is an effective sensor for Hg2+ detection, exhibiting enhanced fluorescence emission at 600 nm with a detection limit as low as 1.0 \u00d7 10\u22126 M. Moreover, the CaCO3@RhoB-NCS was used as a filler for Hg2+ test paper. This work demonstrates a promising approach for valorizing solid waste into high-value-added product.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ma19153271","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]],"date-time":"2026-08-03T08:04:59Z","timestamp":1785744299000},"page":"3271","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Engineering Phosphogypsum into a Fluorescent Nanosensor Based on Functionalized Nano-CaCO3 for Selective Hg2+ Detection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Han","family":"Mo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qingwei","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nenghao","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wentao","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mingyang","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wuyi","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiao","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-8500-7642","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huali","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan 430205, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129244","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2024.129244","article-title":"Research Advances in Phosphogypsum Flotation Purification: Current Status and Prospects","volume":"354","author":"Jia","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sep. 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