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Spectrally tunable humic acid–based carbon dots: a simple platform for metronidazole and ornidazole sensing in multiple real samples

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Abstract

Humic acid–based carbon dots (HACDs) have excellent properties and are widely used in environmental detection, bioimaging, and optoelectronic materials. Herein, we investigated the structure–activity relationship between the morphology and optical properties of HACDs, and reported on a novel strategy for metronidazole (MNZ) and ornidazole (ONZ) sensing in multiple real samples. It was found that the average particle size decreased from 3.28 to 2.44 nm, optimal emission wavelength was blue-shifted from 500 to 440 nm, and the quantum yield (QY) improved from 5 to 23% with the temperature increasing from 110 to 400 °C. Under the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and potassium permanganate (KMnO4), the UV–vis spectra of HACD aqueous solution showed time-dependent behavior, and the fluorescence emission of HACDs achieved spectrally tunable multi-color luminescence in the temporal dimension. The surface of HACDs contained a large number of hydroxyl (–OH) and carboxyl (–COOH) fluorophores, resulting in excellent pH sensing. Meanwhile, the synthesized HACDs revealed sensitive response to MNZ and ONZ with the limit of detection (LOD) of 60 nM and 50 nM in aqueous solutions, which had also been successfully applied in various actual samples such as lake water, honey, eggs, and milk with satisfactory results because of the inner filter effect (IFE). Our research is advantageous to enhance the potential applications of HACDs in advanced analytical systems.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62175262, 21976002, 62104003, and 22004003), School Level Natural Science Research Project (2021tlxy16), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (2008085J11, 1908085QB75), and Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Universities (KJ2020A0228).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243032, China

    Ziguo He, Jiaxu Liu, Cheng Zhang, Yudie Sun, Qian Chen, Jian Zhang, Shengjun Liu, Caibo Yue, Mingfu Ye & Kui Zhang

  2. Engineering Technology Research Center of Optoelectronic Technology Appliance, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongling University, Tongling, 244061, Anhui, China

    Ziguo He

  3. Key Laboratory of Wind Energy and Solar Energy Technology (Ministry of Education), Inner Mongolia University of Technology, Hohhot, 010051, Inner Mongolia, China

    Mingfu Ye

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  1. Ziguo He
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  2. Jiaxu Liu
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  10. Kui Zhang
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Contributions

Ziguo He: investigation; methodology; writing—original draft. Jiaxu Liu and Cheng Zhang: methodology, editing. Yudie Sun: investigation. Qian Chen and Shengjun Liu: validation, conceptualization, formal analysis. Jian Zhang and Mingfu Ye: formal analysis, investigation. Caibo Yue: writing review and editing. Kui Zhang: writing review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Caibo Yue or Kui Zhang.

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Published in the topical collection Young Investigators in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry 2023 with guest editors Zhi-Yuan Gu, Beatriz Jurado-Sánchez, Thomas H. Linz, Leandro Wang Hantao, Nongnoot Wongkaew, and Peng Wu.

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He, Z., Liu, J., Zhang, C. et al. Spectrally tunable humic acid–based carbon dots: a simple platform for metronidazole and ornidazole sensing in multiple real samples. Anal Bioanal Chem 415, 4221–4232 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04291-1

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