A single-component sensor array to detect multiple antibiotics via dual-emission chlorophyll carbon dots

Abstract

In this study, dual-emission carbon dots (DE-CDs) were fabricated using a straightforward one-step hydrothermal synthesis with natural chlorophyll as the carbon precursor. These DE-CDs not only preserve the porphyrin structure of chlorophyll, exhibiting notable fluorescence at 682 nm, but they also display the characteristic fluorescence emission of conventional CDs at 450 nm. Leveraging the unique dual-emission properties of DE-CDs, we have engineered a single-component fluorescent sensor array for the high-throughput detection of antibiotics, which are emerging contaminants in water. The fluorescence responses (F450, F682, and the F450/F682 ratio) of the DE-CDs toward various antibiotics were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA), enabling the facile differentiation of multiple antibiotics with good reproducibility achieved in real water samples. This innovative DE-CDs approach eliminates the need for multiple sensing probes and offers a practical concept for the creation of single-component sensing platforms.