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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Synthesis and Functionalization of Nitrogen-doped Carbon Nanotube Cups with Gold Nanoparticles as Cork Stoppers
Published on: May 13, 2013
Nitrogen and chlorine co-doped carbon dots as probe for sensing and imaging in biological samples
Jin Li1, Kai Tang2, Jianxin Yu2
1Department of Reproductive Medicine, Suizhou Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, 60 Longmen Street, Suizhou 441300, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
A facile one-step hydrothermal synthesis approach was proposed to prepare nitrogen and chlorine co-doped carbon dots (CDs) using l-ornithine hydrochloride as the sole precursor. The configuration and component of CDs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. The obtained CDs (Orn-CDs) with a mean diameter of 2.1 nm were well monodispersed in aqueous solutions. The as-prepared CDs exhibited a bright blue fluorescence with a high yield of 60%, good photostability and low cytotoxicity. The emission of Orn-CDs could be selectively and effectively suppressed by Fe3+. Thus, a quantitative assay of Fe3+ was realized by this nanoprobe with a detection limit of 95.6 nmol l-1 in the range of 0.3-50 µmol l-1. Furthermore, ascorbic acid could recover the fluorescence of Orn-CDs suppressed by Fe3+, owing to the transformation of Fe3+ to Fe2+ by ascorbic acid. The limit of detection for ascorbic acid was 137 nmol l-1 in the range of 0.5-10 µmol l-1. In addition, the established method was successfully applied for Fe3+ and ascorbic acid sensing in human serum and urine specimens and for imaging of Fe3+ in living cells. Orn-CD-based sensing platform showed its potential to be used for biomedicine-related study because it is cost-effective, easily scalable and can be used without additional functionalization and sample pre-treatment.
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