A reliable and facile fluorescent sensor from carbon dots for sensing 2,4,6-trinitrophenol based on inner filter effect

Xin Wang; Yongli Liu; Qingxiang Zhou; Xueying Sheng; Yi Sun; Boyao Zhou; Jingyi Zhao; Jinghan Guo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137680

A reliable and facile fluorescent sensor from carbon dots for sensing 2,4,6-trinitrophenol based on inner filter effect

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 10:720:137680. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137680. Epub 2020 Mar 3.

Authors

Xin Wang¹, Yongli Liu², Qingxiang Zhou³, Xueying Sheng¹, Yi Sun¹, Boyao Zhou¹, Jingyi Zhao¹, Jinghan Guo¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China.; Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environmental and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, College of Chemical Engineering and Environment, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China.. Electronic address: zhouqx@cup.edu.cn.

PMID: 32325600
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137680

Abstract

2,4,6-Trinitrophenol (TNP) has absorbed much concerns because of its toxic effect and threat on the environment, which results from the fact that it is an important and universal reagent widely utilized for manufacturing many products. It is of great necessity to explore facile and efficient methods for monitoring TNP. In present study, carbon dots (CDs), a new carbonaceous nanomaterial with strong fluorescence, was applied to build a novel sensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of TNP. In the sensing procedure, the fluorescence intensity of as-prepared CDs was diminished with the presence of TNP due to inner filter effect (IFE) quenching mechanism. The sensitivity of the fluorescent sensor was very high with limit of detection down to 5.37 ng mL^-1. This fluorescent sensor was evaluated and excellent spiked recoveries were gained, which demonstrated that the developed sensor would be a robust tool for environmental applications.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Fluorescent sensor; Inner filter effect quenching mechanism; Trinitrophenol.