Journal
RSC ADVANCES
Volume 8, Issue 31, Pages 17254-17262Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c8ra02756k
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Funding
- National Key Research and Development Plan [2016YFC0303701]
- Beijing Nova Program Interdisciplinary Studies Cooperative project [Z181100006218138]
- Beijing Science and Technology project [Z161100001316010]
- State Key Laboratory of Petroleum AMP
- Petrochemical Pollution Control and Treatment [PPC2017015]
- Science Foundation of the China University of Petroleum, Beijing [2462018BJC004]
- National Institute of Food and Agriculture
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- McIntire Stennis [1009735]
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Heteroatom-doped carbon dots (CDs) with excellent optical characteristics and negligible toxicity have emerged in many applications including bioimaging, biosensing, photocatalysis, and photothermal therapy. The metal-doping of CDs using various heteroatoms results in an enhancement of the photophysics but also imparts them with multifunctionality. However, unlike nonmetal doping, typical metal doping results in low fluorescence quantum yields (QYs), and an unclear photoluminescence mechanism. In this contribution, we detail results concerning zinc doped CDs (Zn-CDs) with QYs of up to 35%. The zinc ion charges serve as a surface passivating agent and prevent the aggregation of graphene pi-pi stacking, leading to an increase in the QY of the Zn-CDs. Structural and chemical investigations using spectroscopic and first principle simulations further revealed the effects of zinc doping on the CDs. The robust Zn-CDs were used for the ultra-trace detection of Hg2+ with a detection limit of 0.1 mu M, and a quench mechanism was proposed. The unique optical properties of the Zn-CDs have promise for use in applications such as in vivo sensing and future phototherapy applications.
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