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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Preparation of Carbon Nanosheets at Room Temperature
Published on: March 8, 2016
Barbituric acid-modified graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for ratiometric fluorescent detection of Cu2
Ling Chen1, Zhiping Song, Xueting Liu
1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, and College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, Fujian 3501168, China. lqguo@fzu.edu.cn mjli@fzu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
In this work, barbituric acid-modified graphitic carbon nitride (BCN) nanosheets with blue-green fluorescence were prepared by a copolymerization of dicyandiamide with barbituric acid and then by a chemical oxidation process. A ratiometric fluorescent sensor for Cu2+ was designed by using BCN nanosheets as the report probe and Ru(bpy)3Cl2 as the reference probe. In the presence of different concentrations of Cu2+, the blue-green fluorescence of BCN nanosheets was drastically quenched, while the red fluorescence of Ru(bpy)3Cl2 remained constant. The color of the sensor changed from blue-green to red, resulting in ratiometric and visual detection of Cu2+ ions. The detection limit for Cu2+ was estimated to be 70 nM, and as low as 5 μM Cu2+ was distinguished with the naked eye. Additionally, this sensor was also applied for the detection of Cu2+ in tap water samples.
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