Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis of Carbon Dots and their Application as Turn Off–On Fluorescent Sensor for Mercury (II) and Glutathione

  • FLUORESCENCE NEWS ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Fluorescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new method for the detection of mercury (II) and glutathione using carbon dots as fluorescent sensor. The synthesized carbon dots have the advantages of simple manipulation, low cost and the high fluorescence quantum yield of them which was22.79%. The combination of mercury (II) and carbon dots caused the turn off of carbon dots fluorescence. With the reaction between mercury (II) and glutathione, the carbon dots were released and the fluorescence was turned on when the glutathione added. According to this, the carbon dots could be developed to detect mercury (II) and glutathione specifically, and the detection limit of mercury (II) is as low as 0.41 μM.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

References

  1. Tan HL, Zhang YQ, Chen Y (2011) Detection of mercury ions (Hg2+) in urine using a terbium chelate fluorescent probe. Sensors Actuators B Chem 156:120–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2011.03.081

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ciedziel JV (2004) Gerstenberger, Shawn, determination of total mercury in human hair and animal fur by combustion atomic absorption spectrometry. Talanta. 64:918–921. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2004.04.013

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. H.N. Kim, W.X. Ren, J.S. Kim, et.al. Fluorescent and colorimetric sensors for detection of lead, cadmium, and mercury ions, J Chem Soc Rev 41 (2012) 3210–3244. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cs15245a

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Milic SZ, Potkonjak NI, Gorjanovic SZ, Veljovic-Jovanovic SD, Pastor FT, Suznjevic DZ (2011) A polarographic study of chlorogenic acid and its interaction with some heavy metal ions. Electroanalysis 23:2935–2940. https://doi.org/10.1002/elan.201100476

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Anandhakumar S, Mathiyarasu J, Phani KLN (2012) Anodic stripping voltammetric detection of mercury (II) using au-PEDOT modified carbon paste electrode. Anal Methods 4:2486–2489. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ay25170a

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang GL, Zhu XY, Jiao HJ, Dong YM, Li ZJ (2011) Ultrasensitive and dual functional colorimetric sensors for mercury (II) ions and hydrogen peroxide based on catalytic reduction property of silver nanoparticles. Biosens Bioelectron 3:337–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2011.10.041

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Page LE, Zhang X, Jawaid AM, Snee PT (2011) Detection of toxic mercury ions using a ratiometric CdSe/ZnS nanocrystal sensor. Chem Commun 47:7773–7775. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cc11442e

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Yan X, Song Y, Zhu C, Song J, Du D, Su X, Lin Y (2016) Graphene quantum dot-MnO2nanosheet based optical sensing platform: a sensitive fluorescence "turn off-on" nanosensor for glutathione detection and intracellular imaging. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 8(34):21990–21996. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b05465

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Dresler S, Wójcik M, Bednarek W, Hanaka A, Tukiendorf A (2015) The effect of silicon on maize growth under cadmium stress. Russ J Plant Physiol 62(1):86–92. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443715010057

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Yu Q, Xi H, Chen B, He M, Hu B (2017) In vitro study on antagonism mechanism of glutathione sodium selenite and mercuric chloride. Talanta 171:262–269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2017.04.074

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Liao H, Liu G, Liu Y, Li R, Fu W, Hu L (2017) Aggregation-induced accelerating per-oxidase-like activity of gold nanoclusters and their applications for colorimetric Pb2+ detection. Chem Commun 00:1–3. https://doi.org/10.1039/C7CC05409B

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Harfield JC, Batchelor-McAuley C, Compton RG (2012) Electrochemical determination of glutathione: a review. Analyst 137(10):2285–2296. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2an35090d

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Janes L, Lisjak K, Vanzo A (2010) Determination of glutathione content in grape juice and wine by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Anal Chem Acta 674(2):239–242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2010.06.040

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tang J, Kong B, Wang Y, Xu M, Wang Y, Wu H, Zheng G (2013) Photoelectrochemical detection of glutathione by IrO2-hemin-TiO2 nanowire arrays. Nano Lett 13(11):5350–5354. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl4028507

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Detsri E, Seeharaj P (2017) Colorimetric detection of glutathione based on phthalic acid assisted synthesis of silver nanoparticles. Coll. Surf. A. 533:125–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2017.08.037

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Xu HH, Deng HH, Lin XQ, Wu YY, Lin XL, Peng HP, Liu AL, Xia XH, Chen W (2017) Colorimetric glutathione assay based on the peroxidase-like activity of a nanocomposite consisting of platinum nanoparticles and grapheme oxide. Microchom Acta 184:3945–3951. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-017-2429-3

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Yuan B, Zeng X, Xu C, Liu L, Ma Y, Zhang D, Fan Y (2013) Electrochemical modification of graphene oxide bearing different types of oxygen functional species for the electro-catalytic oxidation of reduced glutathione. Sens Actuators B-Chem 184:15–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2013.04.055

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Baker SN, Baker GA (2010) Luminescent carbon nanodots: emergent nanolights. Angew Chem Int Ed 49:6726–6744. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200906623

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Li H, Kang Z, Liu Y et al (2012) Carbon nanodots: synthesis, properties and applications. J Mater Chem 22:24230–24253. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JM34690G

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhu SJ, Meng QN, Wang L, Zhang JH, Song YB, Jin H, Zhang K, Sun HC, Wang HY, Yang B (2013) Highly photoluminescent carbon dots for multicolor patterning sensors, and bioimaging. Angew Chem Int Ed 52:3953–3957. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201300519

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Liu Q, Guo BD, Rao ZY, Zhang BH, Gong JR (2013) Strong two-photon-induced fluorescence from photostable, biocompatible nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots for cellular and deep-tissue imaging. Nano Lett 13:2436–2441. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl400368v

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Jiang YL, Wei G, Zhang WJ, Wang ZY, Cheng YX, Dai ZH (2016) Solid phase reaction method for preparation of carbon dots and multi-purpose applications. Sensors Actuators B Chem 234:15–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2016.04.124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Stephan O, Ajayan PM, Colliex C, Redlich P, Lambet JM, Bernier P, Lefin P (1994) Doping graphitic and carbon nanotube structures with boron and nitrogen. Science. 266(25191):1683–1685. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.266.5191.1683

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Bourlinos BB, Bakandritsos A, Kouloumpis A, Gournis D, Krysmann M, Giannelis EP, Polakova K, Safarova K, Hola K, Zboril R (2012) Gd(III)-doped carbon dots as a dual fluorescent-MRI probe. J Mater Chem 22(44):23327–23330. https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JM35592B

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Ray S, Saha A, Jana NR (2009) Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and bioimaging application. J Phys Chem C 113:18546–18551. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp905912n

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Li H, He X, Kang Z (2010) Water-soluble fluorescent carbon quantum dots and photocatalyst design. Angew Chem Int Ed 49:4430–4434. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200906154

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Xiao W, Li Y, Hu C (2017) Melanin-originated carbonaceous dots for triple negative breast cancer diagnosis by fluorescence and photoacoustic dual-mode imaging. J Colloid Interface Sci 497:226–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2017.02.068

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Ruan S, Chen J, Cun X et al (2015) Noninvasive in vivo diagnosis of brain glioma using RGD-decorated fluorescent carbonaceous nanospheres. J. Biomed. Nanotechnol 11:2148–2157. https://doi.org/10.1166/jbn.2015.2105

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Gong X, Lu W, Paau MC (2015) Facile synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon dots for Fe(3+) sensing and cellular imaging. Anal Chim Acta 861:74–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2014.12.045

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Lin Y, Chapman R, Stevens MM (2015) Integrative self-assembly of graphene quantum dots and biopolymers into a versatile biosensing toolkit. Adv Funct Mater 25:3183–3192. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201500624

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Ge G, Yao W, Hao R, Yang J, Fu G (2018) On-off-on fluorescent nanosensor for Fe3+, detection and cancer/normal cell differentiation via silicon-doped carbon quantum dots. Carbon. 134:232–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2018.02.063

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Aaron S, Pandey R, Chusuei CC, Ghosh K, Patel R, Wanekaya A (2017) Fabrication characterization and potential applications of carbon nanoparticles in the detection of heavy metal ions in aqueous media. Carbon. 127:122–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2017.10.086

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Kundu A, Lee J, Park B, Ray C, Sankar KV, Kim WS (2017) Facile approach to synthesize highly fluorescent multicolor emissive carbon dots via surface functionalization for cellular imaging. J Colloid Interf Sci 513:505–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2017.10.095

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Wang C, Hu T, Wen Z, Zhou J, Wang X, Wu Q (2018) Concentration-dependent color tunability of nitrogen-doped carbon dots and their application for iron(iii) detection and multicolor bioimaging. J. Colloid Interf Sci. 521:33–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.03.021

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Liu W, Diao H, Chang H, Wang H, Li T, Wei W (2017) Green synthesis of carbon dots from rose-heart radish and application for Fe3+ detection and cell imaging. Sensors Actuators B Chem 241:190–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2016.10.068

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Li L, Wang X, Fu Z, Cui F (2017) One-step hydrothermal synthesis of nitrogen- and sulfur-co-doped carbon dots from ginkgo leaves and application in biology. Mater Lett 196:300–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matlet.2017.03.112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Atchudan R, Edison TNJI, Aseer KR, Perumal S, Karthik N, Lee YR (2017) Highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from, phyllanthus acidus, utilized as a fluorescent probe for label-free selective detection of Fe3+, ions, live cell imaging and fluorescent ink. Biosens Bioelectron 99:303–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2017.07.076

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China-Union Foundation of Henan (U1704170), Key Programs of Henan for Science and Technology Development (182102310103 and 182102310848) and Key Scientific Research Project of Henan Ministry of Education (20A610005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Province for Green Manufacturing of Fine Chemicals, Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Media and Reactions, Ministry of Education, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Chemistry Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Cai, Zheng Fu & Fengling Cui

Authors
  1. Lin Cai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zheng Fu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fengling Cui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fengling Cui.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cai, L., Fu, Z. & Cui, F. Synthesis of Carbon Dots and their Application as Turn Off–On Fluorescent Sensor for Mercury (II) and Glutathione. J Fluoresc 30, 11–20 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-019-02454-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-019-02454-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation