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Nitrogen and Chlorine Co-doped Carbon Dots as a Highly Selective and Sensitive Fluorescent Probe for Sensing of PH, Tetracycline Detection and Cell Imaging

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Abstract

Carbon dots have been widely focused on the field of sensing and detection due to their excellent optical property. Herein, novel orange fluorescent nitrogen and chlorine co-doped carbon dots (N,Cl-CDs) are obtained by one-pot hydrothermal method using o-phenylenediamine and neutral red. Based on the inner filter effect, the prepared N,Cl-CDs can be innovatively developed as an effective “signal-off” multifunctional sensing platform for sensitive determination of tetracycline. The proposed sensor was utilized to realize the determination of tetracycline in Rirver water samples/milk samples (λex = 390 nm, λem = 606 nm) with satisfactory recoveries and relative standard deviations. The linear range of are 0.05 to 45 μM and 45 to135 μM, and detection limit is 3.9 nM (3σ/m). Meanwhile, the luminescent intensity of N,Cl-CDs was reduced gradually when pH changed continuously from 12 to 2, showing a pH-responsive fluorescence property with two linear ranges of pH 3–7 and pH 7–10. In addition, due to the characteristics of low toxicity and excellent biocompatibility, the N, Cl-CDs were also used in the imaging of oocystis cells, which is hopeful to realize the detection of tetracycline in living cells.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support for this work from the Shanxi Natural Science Foundation (201801D121074).

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  1. Fang Liu and Changjian Zhu these authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Modern Chemical Engineering, Shanxi Engineering Vocational College, Taiyuan, 030009, Shanxi, China

    Fang Liu

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, 030006, Shanxi, China

    Changjian Zhu, Yingte Wang & Yong Zhang

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  1. Fang Liu
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Fang Liu and Yong Zhang wrote the main manuscript text; Changjian Zhu and Yingte Wang prepared fgures. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yong Zhang.

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The Oocystis were provided by the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Shanxi University, and Oocystis studies were approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Shanxi University. Selection of Oocystis complied with the State Council and the State Science and Technology Commission (China) promulgated regulations for the administration of affairs concerning experiment animals. All experiments were performed in compliance with Regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals promulgated by Decree No. 2 of the State Science and Technology Commission (1988) (China) or the formulated guidelines for the humane use of laboratory animals in research by Association for Research to ensure enough respect for the life of experiment animals.

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Liu, F., Zhu, C., Wang, Y. et al. Nitrogen and Chlorine Co-doped Carbon Dots as a Highly Selective and Sensitive Fluorescent Probe for Sensing of PH, Tetracycline Detection and Cell Imaging. J Fluoresc (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-023-03360-7

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