Determination of dopamine in the presence of ascorbic and uric acids by fluorometric method using graphene quantum dots

Graphene quantum dots were synthesized by control carbonization of citric acid and utilized for selective determination of dopamine in the presence of ascorbic and uric acids. The prepared graphene quantum dots were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared, ultraviolet-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. The results revealed that dopamine could quench the fluorescence of graphene quantum dots through a dynamic quenching mechanism. Under the optimized conditions, the linear concentration range was obtained within 0.01-50.0 mu M, with the correlation coefficient of 0.9983 and a limit of detection of 8.2 nM. This method does not show any interference with respect to coexisting foreign substances, even at the presence of 500-fold of ascorbic acid and uric acid.