Hybrid carbon source for producing nitrogen-doped polymer nanodots: one-pot hydrothermal synthesis, fluorescence enhancement and highly selective detection of Fe(III).

Polymer nanodots (PNDs) from a hybrid carbon source (glucose and glycine) which exhibit a stronger fluorescence than the PNDs from a single source (glucose or glycine) are obtained by one-pot hydrothermal treatment. It is attractive that PNDs can be used as an effective fluorescent probe for the detection of iron ions with good selectivity and sensitivity in an aqueous solution.