Journal
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
Volume 8, Issue 45, Pages 16979-16989Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c07209
Keywords
red-emission carbon dots; ionic liquids; extreme acidity; fluorescence imaging; Escherichia coli
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21838010, 21890762, 21676270]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China.Key Projects of Shanxi Coal-Based Low-Carbon Joint Foundation [U1610222]
- National Key Research and Development Plan of China [2016YFF0203700]
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Recently, fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) have emerged as novel carbon nanomaterials in terms of their unique optical properties, robust chemical inertness, and excellent biocompatibility. However, synthesis of efficient red-emission carbon dots (R-CDs) remains highly desirable for sensing applications, especially in the field of bioimaging, on account of their deeper tissue penetration and greater bioimaging capability than CDs with low-wavelength emission. Herein, novel R-CDs are synthesized by one-step solvothermal treatment of o-phenylenediamine and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate. The as-prepared R-CDs exhibit remarkable acidophilic ability; the results show that the fluorescence intensity of R-CDs at 620 nm decreases with increasing pH from 1.5 to 6.0 and with a linear response to the extreme acidity range of 1.5-4.0. Importantly, it is nearly 4.7-fold more sensitive to pH response than phosphate-mediated R-CDs. The proposed pH sensor is further applied to monitor extreme pH fluctuations in Escherichia coli (E. coli). Compared to those CDs with low-wavelength emission, ionic liquid-mediated R-CDs have lower energy, stronger penetrability, and greater bioimaging capabilities, making them more preferable for biological and medical applications. To our knowledge, no R-CDs mediated by ionic liquids are reported until now, which would open a new chapter in the synthesis of R-CDs with ionic liquids.
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