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Fluorescent carbon dots: facile synthesis at room temperature and its application for Fe2+ sensing

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Abstract

A new route for one-pot preparation of carbon dots (CDs) was developed at room temperature using PEG400 as both the carbon source and passitive agent. The new method possesses the advantages of facile, rapid, energy-saving, without any external stimulus and environment friendly. By changing the content of NaOH, the PEG400-CDs with blue-emitting, yellow-emitting, orange red-emitting and red-emitting were obtained, and the formation mechanism were carefully investigated. In addition, a sensitive fluorescence sensor were developed for Fe2+ detection based on PEG400-CDs since the fluorescence of PEG400-CDs could be enhanced by Fe2+. It was found that there is a good linear relationship between the enhanced fluorescence and Fe2+ concentration in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 μmol·L−1 with the detection limit of 6.0 × 10−8 mol·L−1, and Fe2+ in water samples was also determined with high accuracy and repeatability.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21205011 and 21465003), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No.20161BAB213090), and Engineering Excellence Program of Jiangxi Poyang Area (No. 2013.58).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Sai Jin Xiao, Zhao Jun Chu, Jun Zuo, Xiao Jing Zhao & Cheng Zhi Huang

  2. School of Chemistry, Biology and Material Science, East China University of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, China

    Sai Jin Xiao

  3. College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Cheng Zhi Huang

  4. College of Chemistry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Li Zhang

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  1. Sai Jin Xiao
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  2. Zhao Jun Chu
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  3. Jun Zuo
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  4. Xiao Jing Zhao
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  5. Cheng Zhi Huang
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  6. Li Zhang
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Correspondence to Li Zhang.

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Xiao, S.J., Chu, Z.J., Zuo, J. et al. Fluorescent carbon dots: facile synthesis at room temperature and its application for Fe2+ sensing. J Nanopart Res 19, 84 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-016-3698-1

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