Platinum, palladium, and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots as efficient enhancers for acetonitrile-hydrogen peroxide chemiluminescence reaction and its application for sensitive determination of Fe(II) ions

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the effect of platinum, palladium, and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots (Pt,Pd,N-CDs) on the acetonitrile-hydrogen peroxide (CH3CN–H2O2) chemiluminescence (CL) reaction. We found that Pt,Pd,N-CDs can remarkably amplify the CL intensity of this system (about 530-fold). Based on the gathered proofs, we deduced that the generated (1O2)2* molecules from the interaction between CH3CN and H2O2 under the alkaline medium can transfer their energy to Pt,Pd,N-CDs, which act as final emitting species in this CL reaction. Furthermore, we observed that the synthesized CDs function as catalysts, increasing the number of reactive oxygen species. In the presence of Fe(II), the CL signal of Pt,Pd,N-CD-based the system is greatly enhanced, which can be imputed to Fe(II)-catalyzed H2O2 dissociation. Utilizing this finding, an efficient CL assay was developed for the determination of Fe(II) in the range of 0.002–8.0 µM with a detection limit of 1.0 nM. Ultimately, the practicality and reliability of this method were tested by analyzing a certified reference material and spiked water samples.