Hydrothermal Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots from Persimmons as Probe for Determination of Ferric Ions.

Abstract

Local natural persimmons were used as a new precursor to synthesize carbon quantum dots (CQDs) by a brief and environment friendly strategy, hydrothermal method. The as-prepared CQDs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, as well as fluorescence spectrophotometer. The average diameter of CQDs was 2.5±0.5 nm with spherical shape and exhibited blue fluorescence with the maximum emission wavelength at 438 nm and excitation wavelength at 345 nm. The influences of pH and ionic strength on CQDs fluorescence were evaluated. Moreover, the CQDs were used for determination of Fe3+ by blue fluorescence quenching as the result of the interaction between Fe3+ and -OH, -COOH on the CQDs surfaces. The proposed CQDs displayed high selectivity and sensitivity of Fe3+ in comparison with other metal ions. Therefore, a good linear relationship was established with the Fe3+ concentration in the range of 0.6-400 μM. The correlation coefficient of the calibration curve was 0.996. The detection limit of the method was 0.56 μM. Eventually, the CQDs made from persimmons were used for determination of Fe3+ in actual water sample with satisfactory results and gave recoveries between 95.66% and 99.90%. The relative standard deviation was 1.20%-1.86%. The results demonstrated the potential towards diverse applications of the local persimmons.