Mesoporous silica imprinted carbon dots for the selective fluorescent detection of triclosan

A molecularly imprinted fluorescence sensor built as a mesoporous structured silica imprinted layer on the surface of carbon dots (CDs@m-MIP) was employed for the selective detection of triclosan (TRI). The fluorescence of this CDs@m-MIP was affected sensitively and selectively by TRI via an electron transfer-induced fluorescence quenching mechanism with a detection limit of TRI at 1.08 nM (range 1.72-138 nM) under the optimum setup (e.g., pH, response time, and CDs@m-MIP dose). This approach was used successfully to detect TRI in real water samples (e.g., sewage, river, and tap water). The recoveries of TRI were satisfactory in spiked river and tap water (in 94.7-99.5 %). The outcome of this research is thus expected to help develop highly efficient fluorescent sensing systems towards diverse hazardous compounds including TRI.