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Surface-enhanced infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy via carbon nanodots for small molecules in aqueous solution

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Abstract

In this study, carbon nanodots (CNDs) with excellent aqueous dispersibility, narrow size distribution, and oxygen-rich functional groups have been prepared via a green electrochemical method. Graphite electrodes were directly electrolyzed at ambient temperatures to form uniform CNDs in deionized water, which is free from additional oxidant/reductant. As-synthesized CNDs have been applied to coat an attenuated total reflection (ATR) waveguide enabling surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopic studies for detecting a variety of analytes in aqueous phase with remarkably enhanced IR band intensities. Finally, the proposed ATR-SEIRA strategy enabled quantitatively analyzing adenine in aqueous solution after optimizing the amount of CNDs, the solution pH, and potential CND aggregation.

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Acknowledgements

YH gratefully acknowledges the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) for financial support. YH and BM thank the strategic partnership program funded by the DAAD “U5—Ulm University” (#57271317) for facilitating research exchange between Ulm Univ. and Shandong Univ. LC is also supported by Startup Funding of Distinguished Professorship of “1000 Talents Program” (#31370086963030).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Ulm University, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Yuan Hu & Boris Mizaikoff

  2. Key Laboratory for Liquid−Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials (Ministry of Education), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250061, China

    Qiong Chen & Lijie Ci

  3. Electron Microscopy of Materials Science, Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, Ulm University, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    Kecheng Cao

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  1. Yuan Hu
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  2. Qiong Chen
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  5. Boris Mizaikoff
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Correspondence to Boris Mizaikoff.

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Published in the topical collection Nanoparticles for Bioanalysis with guest editors María Carmen Blanco-López and Montserrat Rivas.

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Hu, Y., Chen, Q., Ci, L. et al. Surface-enhanced infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy via carbon nanodots for small molecules in aqueous solution. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 1863–1871 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1521-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1521-9

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