A facile and green approach has been developed for synthesis of boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs). The obtained BNQDs exhibit strong fluorescence and excellent stabilities, including high thermostability, good salt tolerance stability, pH-independence ability, and excellent antiphotobleaching capability. The strong inner filter effect between 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) and BNQDs resulted in fluorescence quenching of BNQDs. Thus, TNP can be selectively and sensitively detected in the concentration range of 0.25-200 μM, with a limit detection of 0.14 μM. The BNQD-based turn-off sensor shows potential prospects for rapidly and selectively detecting TNP in natural water samples without tedious sample pretreatment processes.
Keywords: 2,4,6-trinitrophenol; boron nitride quantum dots; fluorescence stabilities; inner filter effect; photoluminescent sensor.