Facile synthesis and modifying of Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-doped GQDs) as fluorescent probes for detection of nitrite ions

Abstract

Modifying of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) by adding heteroatoms to them improves their structural and optical properties and also makes them applicable in different areas. In this work, we synthesized nitrogen- doped GQDs (N-GQDs) by green method. They were used as fluorescence probes for the recognition and determination of nitrite. The reaction between the nitrogen groups of N-GQDs sensors and the analyte caused quenching fluorescence to increase linearly with increasing nitrite concentration due to an electron transfer mechanism. Under the ideal tested conditions, the response of N-GQDs to nitrite showed a concentration range of 0.3–1400 µM and R2 = 0.9956 with a LOD of 0.1 µM, with (S/N = 5).