Activated cascade effect for dual-mode ratiometric and smartphone-assisted visual detection of curcumin and F- based on nitrogen-doped carbon dots

Siyuan Tang; Yiru Wang; Guoqiang Guo; Tingting Li; Haoming Xing; Houwen Hu; Xuan Leng; Chenjie Gu; Da Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162277

Activated cascade effect for dual-mode ratiometric and smartphone-assisted visual detection of curcumin and F^- based on nitrogen-doped carbon dots

Sci Total Environ. 2023 May 10:872:162277. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162277. Epub 2023 Feb 16.

Authors

Siyuan Tang¹, Yiru Wang², Guoqiang Guo², Tingting Li², Haoming Xing², Houwen Hu², Xuan Leng³, Chenjie Gu², Da Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Full Spectral Solar Electricity Generation (FSSEG), Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
² Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China.
³ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China. Electronic address: lengxuan@nbu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China. Electronic address: chenda@nbu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36801332
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162277

Abstract

The growing persistence of harmful ion or drug molecular residues has always been considered as a matter of concern due to its importance in biological and environmental processes, which requires taking measures to maintain environmental health sustainably and effectively. Inspired by the multi-system and visual quantitative detection of nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs), we develop a novel cascade nano-system based on dual emission carbon dots for on-site visual quantitative detection of curcumin and fluoride ion (F^-). Herein, tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane (Tris) and m-dihydroxybenzene (m-DHB) are elected as reaction precursors to synthesize dual-emission N-CDs by a one-step hydrothermal method. The obtained N-CDs exhibit dual emission peaks at 426 nm (blue) and 528 nm (green) with quantum yields of 53 % and 71 %, respectively. Then, trace curcumin and F^- intelligent off-on-off sensing probe is formed by taking advantage of the activated cascade effect. As for the occurrence of inner filter effect (IFE) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), the green fluorescence of N-CDs quenches remarkably, called as OFF initial state. Then the curcumin-F^- complex leads to the hypochromatic shift of the absorption band from 532 to 430 nm, which activates the green fluorescence of N-CDs, named as ON state. Meanwhile, the blue fluorescence of N-CDs is quenched due to the FRET, called as OFF terminal state. This system shows good linear relationships from 0 to 35 μM and 0 to 40 μM with low detection limits of 29 nM and 42 nM for curcumin and F^- ratiometric detection, respectively. Moreover, a smartphone-assisted analyzer is developed for on-site quantitative detection. Furthermore, we design a logic gate for logistics information storage, which proves the possibility of a logic gate based on N-CDs in practical application. Thus, our work will provide an effective strategy for environmental quantitative monitoring and information storage encryption.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Curcumin; Dual system sensor; Fluoride ion; Off-on-off fluorescent sensor.

MeSH terms

Carbon / chemistry
Curcumin*
Fluorescent Dyes
Nitrogen / chemistry
Quantum Dots* / chemistry
Smartphone
Spectrometry, Fluorescence / methods

Substances

Curcumin
Carbon
Nitrogen
Fluorescent Dyes