Synthesis of fluorescent silicon quantum dots for ultra-rapid and selective sensing of Cr(VI) ion and biomonitoring of cancer cells

Abstract

A facile one-step synthetic approach was developed for fabrication of fluorescent silicon quantum dots (Si QDs) and used as a probe for fluorescence detection of hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) in environmental water samples. The as-prepared Si QDs exhibit a strong fluorescence emission peak at 520 nm with a quantum yield of 14.2%. The fluorescent Si QDs were rapidly produced by using ascorbic acid as a reductant at 55 °C. The emission peak of Si QDs at 420 nm was effectively quenched upon the addition of Cr(VI). The Si QDs acted as the best fluorescent probe for the detection of Cr(VI) at PBS pH 7.4. The developed probe possessed a good linear correlation (R2 = 0.992) between Cr(VI) concentration (1.25–40 μM) and the (F0-F)/F0 values with a detection limit of 0.65 μM. Furthermore, the Si QDs served as a bio-probe for fluorescence imaging of A549 lung cancer cells and cell viability results confirmed the good biocompatible nature of Si QDs. The as-fabricated Si QDs show several advantages such as rapidity, selectivity and biocompatibility for sensing of Cr(VI) and imaging of A549 cells, which opens a facile analytical platform for environmental and bioimaging applications.