Efficient green synthesis of N,B co-doped bright fluorescent carbon nanodots and their electrocatalytic and bio-imaging applications

Abstract

In this work, the nitrogen and boron co-doped carbon nanodots (NB-CNDs) were synthesized from the Solanum betaceum (S. betaceum) fruit extract viz. a simple hydrothermal carbonization method. The as-prepared NB-CNDs were characterized by regular spectroanalytical techniques. The nitrogen and boron co-doping on the surface of carbon nanodots were confirmed by FT-IR, EDAX and XPS studies. The optical properties of the NB-CNDs were studied using UV–Vis and Fluorescence spectroscopy. The quantum yield (QY) for the synthesized NB-CNDs was found to be 35%. The HR-TEM results revealed that the NB-CNDs were spherical in shape and the average size was 5 nm. The XRD, Raman and SAED studies were confirmed the amorphous nature of the NB-CNDs. The electrocatalytic activity of NB-CNDs on oxidation of hydrazine hydrate (HH) was studied by cyclic voltammetric techniques. The NB-CNDs were efficiently utilized as an electrocatalyst for the hydrazine hydrate oxidation in the potential range between −0.4 V to 1 V with the scan rate of 50 mV/s. Further, the synthesized fluorescent NB-CNDs were used as an effective fluorescent staining agent for the in-vitro bio-imaging studies.