Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dot and CdTe Quantum Dot Dual-Color Multifunctional Fluorescent Sensing Platform: Sensing Behavior and Glucose and pH Detection

A novel fluorescent probe based on a nitrogen-doped carbon dot (NCD) and CdTe quantum dot (CdTe QD) platform has been constructed for H2O2/glucose detection and pH sensing. In this work, H2O2-tolerant blue fluorescence NCDs were added to the H2O2-mediated yellow fluorescence quenching of CdTe QDs to construct a dual-color ratiometric fluorescent H2O2 probe. H2O2-induced passivated group detachment and action on deep nanocrystals promoted CdTe QD fluorescence quenching. Meanwhile, the addition of the blue fluorescent background of N-CDs sharply reflected the color change in CdTe QDs. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the platform was effectively applied to the detection of H2O2 produced by the enzymatic reaction of glucose, showing high sensitivity (limit of detection 7.86 mu M) and wide linear range (26-900 mu M) for glucose detection. The pH-sensing behavior of CdTe QDs and N-CDs was attributed to the displacement of a weak acid (3-mercaptopropionic acid) by a strong acid (HCl) and the acid titration process of two coexisting bases (N-CDs and NH3 center dot H2O), respectively. The loss of passivation and doping effects led to a decrease in the fluorescence intensity of CdTe QDs and N-CDs. Moreover, utilizing the ability of bimaterial system fluorescence to pH sensing, a semiquantitative pH detection based on the linear response was developed. The pH range was analyzed by three kinds of N-CD (F-ex = 440 nm) and CdTe QD (F-ex = 548 nm) typical emission spectral shapes. In addition, the recovery results showed that the bimaterial system was proved to be appropriate for the assay of glucose in spiked serum samples.

Automated summary

A novel fluorescent probe combining nitrogen-doped carbon dots and quantum dot platform has been developed for highly sensitive H2O2/glucose detection and pH sensing. The dual-color ratiometric fluorescent probe effectively detected H2O2 by utilizing blue fluorescence NCDs and yellow fluorescence CdTe QDs, while the pH sensing system was based on the loss of passivation and doping effects in CdTe QDs and N-CDs. The bimaterial system showed promising results in semi-quantitative pH detection and glucose assay in spiked serum samples.