Uncovering the pKa dependent fluorescence quenching of carbon dots induced by chlorophenols

Fluorescence quenching induced by targets is always an alluring strategy to elucidate the possible photoluminescence origin of carbon dots. In this study, a new kind of N, S co-doped carbon dots (NSCDs) was synthesized and the fluorescence of NSCDs was surprisingly found to be quenched by chlorophenols (CPs) in a pKa dependent mode. Detailed investigation of this behavior demonstrated that phenolate was the responsible species and N and/or S dopants in NSCDs failed to play a role in the fluorescence quenching. Further evidence uncovered that the quenching was a static one, where a non-fluorescent intermediate was formed between electron-deficient C=O on the CDs surface and the electron-rich phenolic oxygen anion of chlorophenolate via nucleophilic addition. Moreover, one of the main photoluminescence origins of this kind of CDs was derived, namely surface emissive sites mostly attributed to carbonyl groups.