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Nitrogen-doped carbon dots for dual-wavelength excitation fluorimetric assay for ratiometric determination of phosalone

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Abstract

N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were fabricated in a simple procedure by hydrothermal treatment of cellobiose and urea. When excited at 235 nm or 327 nm, only one emission peak at around 420 nm has been observed. With the addition of phosalone, the excitation band at 235 nm was efficiently quenched within 1 min, while the excitation band at 327 nm showed little change. Accordingly, the fluorescence of the N-CDs-phosalone mixture showed quenching under 254-nm UV light, while nearly no fluorescence quenching could be observed under 365-nm UV light. This phenomenon provides a novel anti-false-positive mechanism for phosalone identification. Therefore, the label-free ratiometric sensor for rapid, naked-eye, and anti-false-positive detection of phosalone was proposed for the first time based on the intrinsic dual-excitation N-CDs. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the linear ranges of the excitation-based ratiometric assay were 0.08~4.0 μg/mL and 4.0~14.0 μg/mL; the limit of detection was 28.5 ng/mL. The as-constructed sensor was applied to detect phosalone residue in actual samples, and results were compared with the standard gas chromatographic (GC) method. The recoveries of the established sensor were between 90.0% and 110.0% with RSD lower than 6.6%, while that for the GC method was between 92.5% and 113.0% with RSD lower than 5.8%. Results reveal that the accuracy (recovery) and precision (RSD) of the as-constructed method are comparable to the standard GC method.

Graphical abstract

In this paper, dual-excitation N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were synthesized by a simply one-step hydrothermal method for the first time. The novel dual-excitation ratiometric sensor based on the sole intrinsic N-CDs was constructed for phosalone sensing.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31660183), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2015GXNSFAA139023), the Dean/Opening Project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology (2020 K003), and the Scientific Research Foundation of Guangxi University (XJPZ160713).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Xiufen Liao, Congjin Chen, Jielun Yang, Ruxia Zhou, Quanlong Huang & Zuqiang Huang

  2. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Petrochemical Resource Processing and Process Intensification Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Congjin Chen

  3. Technical Center of Nanning Customs District, Nanning, 530021, China

    Lulu Si & Chunqiu Lv

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  1. Xiufen Liao
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Correspondence to Congjin Chen.

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Liao, X., Chen, C., Yang, J. et al. Nitrogen-doped carbon dots for dual-wavelength excitation fluorimetric assay for ratiometric determination of phosalone. Microchim Acta 188, 247 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-021-04900-3

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