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Fabrication of carbon dots for sequential on–off-on determination of Fe3+ and S2− in solid-phase sensing and anti-counterfeit printing

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Abstract

Glutathione and 2-aminopyridine are used as carbon sources to prepare carbon dots (CDs) by a one-step hydrothermal reaction. The results show that the average particle diameter of CDs is 8.64 nm with uniform size distribution and the fluorescence quantum yield is 13.62%. We further demonstrate that novel CDs possess highly selective sensing of Fe3+ from 0.2 to 200 μM with a low detection limit (0.194 μM). Meanwhile, the fluorescence of CDs can be repeated many times by the addition of S2−. Moreover, the CDs are used for biological imaging of living cells with well cell penetrability and low toxicity. Furthermore, it is successfully applied for anti-counterfeiting and information encryption. More interestingly, it can be doped with hydrogel and filter paper to prepare solid-phase sensors exhibiting high sensitivity and fast response, demonstrating their tremendous potential for the simple, rapid, and low-cost monitoring of Fe3+ and S2−.

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21807085, 21807087, and 22077099).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an, 710032, Shaanxi, China

    Huaqi Zhao, Xilang Jin, Hongwei Zhou, Haiyan Bai, Jin Yang, Yulong Li & Yiting Ma

  2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, People’s Republic of China

    Zheng Yang

  3. Key Laboratory of Resource Biology and Biotechnology in Western China, Ministry of Education; Biomedicine Key Laboratory of Shaanxi Province; Lab of Tissue Engineering, the College of Life Sciences, Faculty of Life Science & Medicine, Northwest University, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, 710069, People’s Republic of China

    Mengyao She

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  1. Huaqi Zhao
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Zhao, H., Jin, X., Zhou, H. et al. Fabrication of carbon dots for sequential on–off-on determination of Fe3+ and S2− in solid-phase sensing and anti-counterfeit printing. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 7473–7483 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03709-6

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