Impact on ratiometric fluorescence of carbon dots hybridizing with lanthanide in determination of residual Carbendazim in food

Abstract

Nano-hybrid carbon dots (CDs) with multiple emissions always endure fluorescence quenching induced by the interactions of chemical groups between hybrid CDs and nanomaterial, the samples with abundant interferences by an ordinary pretreatment. Lanthanide ion (DPA-Tb) was employed to hybridize PAN-CDs for the fabrication of ratiometric fluorescent sensor (PAN-CDs&DPA-Tb) to detect Carbendazim (MBC) in complicated food samples with facile pretreatment. The impacts of hybridization on the fluorescence of PAN-CDs were evaluated through dynamic characterizations, which manifested that DPA-Tb and the sensing matrix had no significant influence on the ratiomeric fluorescence of PAN-CDs&DPA-Tb sensor. The sensor (F363/F544) linearly responded to concentrations of MBC in 0–0.091 mmol/L with a limit of detection (LOD) of 3.0 × 10-3 μmol/L and satisfactory applications with recoveries of 92.22–106.08% and RSDs of 0.14–1.69%. The strategy provides a novel sight to investigate the fabrication of CDs-based ratiometric fluorescent sensors.