Abstract
This work reports nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) as a selective sensing probe to detect Fe3+ in water samples. NCD probes were synthesized via solvothermal method using nitrogen-rich melamine and triethanolamine as precursors. Properties of the resulting NCDs were studied using different characterization techniques, through which N-doping was confirmed. The quantum yield of obtained NCDs was measured to be 21%. When excited at 370 nm, the excellent blue emission property makes this probe adoptable for selectively sensing Fe3+ in practical water samples. The limit of detection (LOD) was identified as 216 nM with a good linear range between the concentrations of 0.2-2 μM. The obtained LOD is far less than the World Health Organization (WHO) permissible limits of Fe3+ in water. Interference studies reveal that the presence of other competing ions did not alter the sensing of Fe3+, even at the presence of 10 equivalents which indicates the high selectivity of NCDs towards Fe3+. The reversibility studies showed that adding a cheap and readily available EDTA ligand to the NCD results in fluorescence regeneration, leading to exceptional reusability for the detection of Fe3+. So, the synthesized NCDs can be used as a suitable probe for the selective determination of Fe3+ in real water samples.
Highlights
Among nanocarbon materials, carbon dots (CDs) have been given much attention due to their properties such as low cytotoxicity, robust chemical inertness, and good biocompatibility, which are useful in several areas like sensing, imaging, photodegradation, and theranostic applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The solvothermal method was adopted to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) where melamine and triethanolamine together act as carbon and nitrogen sources
A satisfactory recovery and relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) were detected with the spiked Fe3+ concentration. These findings suggest that NCDs can detect Fe3+ with high selectivity and precise quantification
Summary
Carbon dots (CDs) have been given much attention due to their properties such as low cytotoxicity, robust chemical inertness, and good biocompatibility, which are useful in several areas like sensing, imaging, photodegradation, and theranostic applications [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Fluorescence methods have benefits such as high sensitivity, reusability, onsite usage, and relatively economical, over traditional spectrophotometric approaches, which generally require complex sample preparation procedures and expensive instrumentation [31, 32]. Synthesized NCDs were characterized structurally and optically using TEM, XRD, FT-IR, absorption, and fluorescence spectroscopy. These NCDs were shown to have a high sensitivity and selectivity for Fe3+ ions in an aqueous solution with a low detection limit. Other competing metal ions do not affect the optical property of NCDs. the real-time application of Fe3+ detection was demonstrated by the quantification of Fe3+ in water samples
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