Bifunctional Mn-Doped N-Rich Carbon Dots with Tunable Photoluminescence and Oxidase-Mimetic Activity Enabling Bimodal Ratiometric Colorimetric/Fluorometric Detection of Nitrite

Multimodal detection is a promising paradigm because of its advantages of expanding usage scenarios and improving reliability. However, it is very challenging to design reasonable strategies to achieve the multimodal sensing of targets. Herein, we developed an unprecedented bimodal ratiometric colorimetric/fluorometric method by exploring a novel bifunctional artificial oxidase mimic, Mn-doped N-rich carbon dots (MnCDs), to achieve the high-performance determination of nitrite in complicated matrices. The Mn-CDs exhibited both tunable photoluminescence and high oxidase-like activity, effectively catalyzing the colorless 3,3 ',5,5 '-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) oxidation to generate blue TMB+. When nitrite was introduced, the TMB+ species generated would specifically react with nitrite to produce diazotized TMB+, resulting in a color change from blue to green and finally to yellow. Simultaneously, the fluorescence of Mn-CDs was quenched by the diazotized TMB+ product via the inner filter effect. Hence, the existence of nitrite could lead to the simultaneous variations of visual color and photoluminescence, providing the principal basis for the bimodal ratiometric colorimetric/fluorometric quantification of the target. With the method, excellent sensitivity, selectivity, reliability, and practicability for nitrite detection were verified. Our work proposes a new bimodal strategy for nitrite measurement using bifunctional CDs-based enzyme mimics, which will inspire future effort on the exploration of promising multifunctional nanozymes and their advanced applications in biochemical sensing.

Automated summary

In this study, a bimodal ratiometric colorimetric/fluorometric method was developed to achieve high-performance determination of nitrite in complex matrices using bifunctional carbon dots enzyme mimics. The method demonstrated excellent sensitivity, selectivity, reliability, and practicability for nitrite detection, providing a new strategy for nitrite measurement and inspiring future research on multifunctional nanozymes in biochemical sensing.