Aggregation-induced emission enhancement of yellow photoluminescent carbon dots for highly selective detection of environmental and intracellular copper(II) ions

Carbon dots (CDs) are prepared through a simple one-step hydrothermal treatment of o-phenylendiamine (OPD) and show yellow photoluminescent (PL) emission under the ultraviolet excitation, which can be further enhanced by Cu2+ ions owing to Cu2+ ions induced aggregation of OPD-CDs through the coordination of Cu2+ with amino groups on the surface of OPD-CDs. The aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE) property enables it feasible to develop a simple, sensitive and selective method to detect environmental and intracellular copper (II) ions. The limit of detection as low as 0.28 mu mol/L (3 sigma/k) and a dynamic range from 0.5 mu mol/L to 40 mu mol/L make it very easy to detect the copper content in water samples, such as river closure reservoir. Furthermore, fluorescence imaging of intracellular Cu2+ suggests that the AIEE features of OPD-CDs specific to Cu2+ ions can be also applied in biological systems. (C) 2019 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.