Detection and separation of silver ions from industrial wastewaters using fluorescent D-glucose carbon nanosheets and quaternary silver indium zinc sulphide quantum dots

Carbon nanomaterials are essential for functions such as electronic connectivity, wastewater purification, energy and environmental sustainability applications. In this report, fluorescent carbon nanosheet was obtained from D-glucose (F-GCNS) via a low-temperature in-situ pyrolysis. The as-synthesized F-GCNS were characterized using conventional spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Furthermore, the nanosheets were used to detect and separate silver ions (Ag+) from aqueous solutions with a detection limit (LOD) of 1.74 ppm and about 98.42 +/- 0.69 % removal for concentrations ranging between 0 and 20 ppm and 100 and 200 ppm respectively. Comparably, at all concentrations, the nanosheets exhibited an LOD better than that of the quaternary silver indium zinc sulphide quantum dots (Glu-AISZ) (LOD = 7.96, R2 0.6524 for 0-20 ppm and 28.01, R2 = 0.95418 for 30-100 ppm respectively). The F-GCNS showed attractiveness for simultaneous detection and removal of heavy metal pollutants from industrial wastewater.

Automated summary

Fluorescent carbon nanosheets were successfully synthesized from glucose and utilized for detecting and removing silver ions in water. The detection performance outperformed other materials and showed potential for application in industrial wastewater treatment of heavy metal pollutants.