1 - Carbon nanodots from natural (re)sources: a new perspective on analytical chemistry

Abstract

Carbon nanodots (CNDs) are a new class of carbon nanoparticles, which have vast applications in the field of analytical chemistry. These materials have excellent fluorescent properties, as compared with the fluorescent, semiconductor quantum dots. Nature provides almost limitless sources that inspire scientists to develop new materials with novel applications and of less environmental impact. From a human perspective, a natural resource is anything obtained from the environment to satisfy human needs and wants. Recently, much attention has been focused on preparing natural-(re)sources-derived CNDs because of their low cost, environmental friendliness, and wide availability. Natural precursors are renewable, almost always yield CNDs with good biocompatibility and contain heteroatoms, which facilitate the fabrication of heteroatom-doped CNDs, without the need for the addition of an external heteroatom source. The prepared CNDs have shown excellent response for the (multiple) detection of metal ions, anions, and small organic molecules with high sensitivity and selectivity and applicability to real-life samples. To realize the full potential of green CNDs, further research efforts are directed toward those analytes and mechanisms through which detection is achieved. This chapter will provide state-of-the-art procedures and examples of the use of CNDs from natural precursors in fluorescence-probing systems.