Simplistic hydrothermal synthesis approach for fabricating photoluminescent carbon dots and its potential application as an efficient sensor probe for toxic lead(II) ion detection

doi:10.1007/s11705-022-2239-y

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (5) : 536-547 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2239-y

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Simplistic hydrothermal synthesis approach for fabricating photoluminescent carbon dots and its potential application as an efficient sensor probe for toxic lead(II) ion detection

Trisita Ghosh¹, Rajkumar Sahoo², Suman Kumar Ghosh¹, Pallab Banerji³, Narayan Ch. Das¹(

)

¹. Rubber Technology Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
². Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India
³. Materials Science Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur 721302, India

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Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a variety of members of the carbon family along with exposure of carbon dots due to their magnificent properties in sensing, bioimaging, catalytic applications, biomedical fields, and so on. Herein, we report the simple hydrothermal method to fabricate photoluminescent doped carbon quantum dots for the detection of noxious lead(II) ions. Lead(II) ion is very venomous for both the environment and human health for which its detection is demanded area in the research field. The as-prepared carbon dots show excellent photostability, low toxicity and significant photoluminescence properties along with good water solubility. Along with these properties, carbon dots have a quantum yield of approximately 15%. In the practical field of application, these carbon dots have been used as sensing probes for the detection of lead(II) ions with a detection limit of 60 nmol·L^–1. The fluorescence intensity of carbon dots was remarkably quenched in the presence of the lead(II) ion selectively among all the tested metal ions. Furthermore, we have studied the Stern–Volmer relationship for lead(II) quenching along with the explanation of the probable quenching mechanism. Ability of the doped carbon dots in heavy metal ions sensing in an environmental sample was demonstrated.

Keywords carbon dots fluorescence heavy metal sensing practical application photoluminescence

Corresponding Author(s): Narayan Ch. Das

About author:

*These authors equally shared correspondence to this manuscript.

Online First Date: 01 March 2023 Issue Date: 28 April 2023

Cite this article:

Trisita Ghosh,Rajkumar Sahoo,Suman Kumar Ghosh, et al. Simplistic hydrothermal synthesis approach for fabricating photoluminescent carbon dots and its potential application as an efficient sensor probe for toxic lead(II) ion detection[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(5): 536-547.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-022-2239-y
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2023/V17/I5/536

Fig.1 (a) TEM image of the prepared CDs and particle size distribution histogram in the inset; (b) HRTEM image of CDs showed spherical shape nature; (c) FTIR spectra of the CDs; (d) EDX data of the as-prepared CDs; (e) and (f) are the three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of the CDs, respectively.

Fig.2 (a) XPS survey scan spectra of CDs (inset: elemental atomic percentage of CDs obtained from XPS scan); deconvoluted spectra of (b) C 1s, (c) N 1s, (d) O 1s, (e) S 2p, and (f) B 1s, respectively.

Fig.3 (a) XRD pattern of the as-prepared CDs; (b) UV–visible absorption spectra of CDs; (c) excitation and emission spectra of the CDs; (d) excitation dependent fluorescence behaviour of prepared CDs; (e) photostability done under UV exposure on the FL intensity of prepared CDs.

Fig.4 (a) Fluorescence quenching spectra of CDs with increasing the concentration of Pb²⁺ ion; (b) relationship of F/F₀ vs. concentration of Pb²⁺ ion, inset shows the linear relationship FL intensity and Pb²⁺ ion; (c) the difference in the fluorescence intensity of CDs of different metal ions in the excitation wavelength 350 nm; (d) the interference experiments study of CDs with Pb²⁺ along with other metal ions.

Fig.5 (a) FL quenching data of CDs of environmental water sample (river water) at different concentrations; (b) relationship between F/F₀ vs. concentration of Pb²⁺ ion, inset shows the dependence that is the linear relationship of log(F₀/F) vs. concentration of Pb²⁺ ion.

Fig.6 (a) Time resolved photoluminescence spectra of CDs and (b) CDs + Pb²⁺ ion.

Tab.1 Different types of evaluation results of Pb²⁺ detection in real water and their detection limit

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