Crayfish shells-derived carbon dots as a fluorescence sensor for the selective detection of 4-nitrophenol

ABSTRACT

As a type of environmentally deleterious compound, 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) has become a global concern due to its extreme toxicity to aquatic organisms and humans. Herein, we used naturally available crayfish shells as precursors to prepare a new type of carbon dots (CDs) by the hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized CDs exhibited strong blue fluorescence emission which can be sensitively quenched by 4-NP through the static quenching effect because of the formation of a ground state complex between CDs and 4-NP. Accordingly, a facile and rapid fluorescence sensor was developed to detect 4-NP from 0 μM to 50 μM with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.16 μM. Furthermore, the proposed sensor was successfully applied for the detection of 4-NP in fresh crayfish meat and aquatic water samples.

KEYWORDS:

• Crayfish shells
• carbon dots
• fluorescence sensors
• 4-nitrophenol
• quenching mechanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work reported in this article was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Project No. 2019YFC1606000), and Collaborative innovation centesr of food safety and quality control in Jiangsu Province.