Research on the spectral properties of luminescent carbon dots

This paper is trying to research the developing status of carbon dots (CDs), and the results show that the simple, rapid and high yield synthetic methods for CDs and the application of CDs in biological science and analysis field become certainly to be an inevitable development trend in the future. The CDs obtained by microwave possess excellent optical properties including UV-Vis absorption, fluorescence and room temperature phosphorescence. Under the conditions of 30 degrees C and 10 min, the fluorescence signal (F) of CDs not only could be enhanced by hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), Triton X-100, Na2S, Na2C2O4 and NH3 center dot H2O, but also could be quenched by sodium dodecyl sulfate, KBrO3, K2S2O8, NaIO4, ascorbic acid, NaBH4, HNO3, HCl, H2SO4, CH3COOH and most metal ions, with the lambda(max)(em) blue or red shifting in varying degrees, indicating the potential values of CDs in analytical application. Besides, the sensitive response of F to pH showed the promise of developing a new pH sensor with CDs. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.