title: Highly fluorescent Zn-doped carbon dots as Fenton reaction-based bio-sensors: an integrative experimental-theoretical consideration.
abstract: Heteroatom doped carbon dots (CDs), with high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY), are of keen interest in various applications such as chemical sensors, bio-imaging, electronics, and photovoltaics. Zinc, an important element assisting the electron-transfer process and an essential trace element for cells, is a promising metal dopant for CDs, which could potentially lead to multifunctional CDs. In this contribution, we report a single-step, high efficiency, hydrothermal method to synthesize Zn-doped carbon dots (Zn-CDs) with a superior PLQY. The PLQY and luminescence characteristic of Zn-CDs can be tuned by controlling the precursor ratio, and the surface oxidation in the CDs. Though a few studies have reported metal doped CDs with good PLQY, the as prepared Zn-Cds in the present method exhibited a PLQY up to 32.3%. To the best of our knowledge, there is no report regarding the facile preparation of single metal-doped CDs with a QY more than 30%. Another unique attribute of the Zn-CDs is the high monodispersity and the resultant highly robust excitation-independent luminescence that is stable over a broad range of pH values. Spectroscopic investigations indicated that the superior PLQY and luminescence of Zn-CDs are due to the heteroatom directed, oxidized carbon-based surface passivation. Furthermore, we developed a novel and sensitive biosensor for the detection of hydrogen peroxide and glucose leveraging the robust fluorescence properties of Zn-CDs. Under optimal conditions, Zn-CDs demonstrated high sensitivity and response to hydrogen peroxide and glucose over a wide range of concentrations, with a linear range of 10-80 μM and 5-100 μM, respectively, indicating their great potential as a fluorescent probe for chemical sensing.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Rigu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Personalized Drug Therapy Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Hospital of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, 610072, P. R China. cailulu@med.uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lulu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bofan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yingyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Linzhou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, Institute of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing, 102249, China. xuquan@cup.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yajun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Personalized Drug Therapy Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Hospital of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, 610072, P. R China. cailulu@med.uestc.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. lineng@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Neng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China. lineng@whut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
authors.forename: Zhipeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Akron, Ohio, 44325, USA.
authors.forename: Yusheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nutritional Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China.
authors.forename: Yanglan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: Chenbo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
authors.forename: Theruvakkattil Sreenivasan
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Sreeprasad
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D002244:Carbon; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D049449:Luminescence; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*; D015032:Zinc
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon; D015032:Zinc