Abstract
In this work, blue emission carbon dots (CDs) are synthesized in the one-pot solvothermal method using naringin as precursor. The CDs are used to develop a ratiometric fluorescence sensor for the sensitive analysis of Al3+ with a detection limit of 113.8 nM. A fluorescence emission peak at 500 nm gradually appears, whereas the original fluorescence peak at 420 nm gradually decreases upon the increase in the Al3+ concentration. More importantly, the obvious color change of the CDs probe from blue to green under a 360 nm UV lamp can be identified by a smartphone and combined with the RGB (red/green/blue) analysis. This results in a visual and sensitive analysis of Al3+ with a detection limit of 5.55 μM. Moreover, the high recovery is in the 92.46–104.10% range, which demonstrates the high accuracy of this method for actual samples’ analysis. The use of a smartphone and the RGB analysis greatly simplifies the operation process, saves equipment cost, shortens the detection time, and provides a novel method for the instant, on-site, visual detection of Al3+ in actual samples.
Highlights
Aluminum, which is considered the most abundant metal element in the Earth’s crust, is widely used in daily applications, such as water treatment, aluminum containers, cooking utensils, and food additives, resulting in a reasonable increase in the Al3+ concentration in water and food
carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized from naringin in ethanol
A colorimetric fluorescent sensor was designed for detecting Al3+ based on as-prepared CDs probe and a smartphone coupled with an RGB analysis
Summary
Aluminum, which is considered the most abundant metal element in the Earth’s crust, is widely used in daily applications, such as water treatment, aluminum containers, cooking utensils, and food additives, resulting in a reasonable increase in the Al3+ concentration in water and food. Inspired by previous works that claim the Al3+ can induce a new fluorescence peak when itinteracts with several small fluorescent molecules [24,25], one kind of fluorescent CDs can be used to develop a fluorescence-based colorimetric sensor for the sensitive detection of Al3+ This is possible if the surface of the CDs possesses specific chemical groups. Apart from the on-site determination of ions, small molecules, such as miRNAs [27], tetracycline [29], and alkaline phosphatase [30], were analyzed sensitively via the combination of a smartphone and two-color fluorescent materials.the on-site quantitative detection of Al3+ can be achieved using one kind of CDs probe and a smartphone coupled with the RGB profile analysis of the images.
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