Waste Biomass Derived Nitrogen-doped Carbon Dots As Efficient Sensors of Environmental Pollutants

Fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) were prepared by a facile hydrothermal treatment from the waste biomass jackfruit peel. Structural, optical and morphological characterisation revealed that the functional groups on the surface of the CDs provided them with good aqueous solubility and excellent stability against different experimental conditions. From zeta potential analysis, the surface of the CDs was found to be negatively charged (-23.7 mV). The synthesized CDs could emit blue light under UV radiation and they act as efficient sensors for various analytes like metal ions, antibiotics, and dyes, etc. The CDs displayed outstanding sensing activity for the analytes with a low detection limit by a static quenching process. Fluorescence enhancement was obtained in the presence of levofloxacin also owing to the formation of hydrogen bonds between the surface functional groups on CDs and levofloxacin.