Novel fluorescence probe based on bright emitted carbon dots for ClO- detection in real water samples and living cells.

Low-toxic and environmentally friendly carbon dots (CDs) have been extensively applied in various fields. CDs usually demonstrate excellent selectivity and high sensitivity, especially in ion detection. However, the most commonly used CDs are excited by ultraviolet (UV) light and emit weak fluorescence light, limiting their application in some fields. Herein, novel fluorine and nitrogen codoped carbon dots (FNCDs) were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method and used as a fluorescent probe for ion detection. The FNCDs were excited by blue light and emitted strong green fluorescence, and the photoluminescence quantum yield was as high as 56.7%. The fluorescence of the FNCDs could be rapidly quenched by ClO- ions, indicating their potential application for ClO- detection. The fluorescence of the FNCDs was quenched by ClO- ions in less than 1 min, and the intensity of the fluorescence decreased linearly as the ClO- concentration increased from 0 to 20 μM. The detection limit was calculated to be as low as 8.2 nM, indicating high sensitivity of the FNCDs probe. The quench effect of the ClO- ions on the FNCDs probe fluorescence was not affected by other ions, demonstrating excellent selectivity of the FNCDs probe. Because of their excellent biological compatibility, the FNCDs were also successfully used to identify exogenous ClO- in living cells. These FNCDs have promising prospects as novel sensitive and inexpensive probes for the detection of pollutants and in the pathological studies of clinical diseases.