One-step synthesis of new fluorescent carbon dots for the selective detection of ferric ions in aqueous environments

In recent years, carbon dots (CDs), a type of new carbon nanomaterial, have been widely used. In this study, new fluorescent CDs were synthesized via a one-step hydrothermal synthesis using 2,3-dihydroxynaphthalene and sodium citrate as the carbon source. The results showed that the prepared CDs were significantly quenched by Fe³⁺ in aqueous environments, and a good linear relationship between the fluorescence intensity of the CDs and a low concentration of Fe³⁺ was observed. The detection limit of Fe³⁺ was 0.12 μM, the linear range was 0–4.69 μM and the recovery range of the sample detection was 84–111%. The new fluorescent CDs showed high sensitivity to Fe³⁺ in the presence of various metal ions and anions. These excellent characteristics promise extensive potential applications for our fluorescent CDs in aqueous environmental monitoring.