All-in-One: One radioactive uranium detergent integrated decontamination and real-time detection based on carbon quantum dots and diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid

During on-site nuclear rescue and treatment, efficiently carrying out decontamination operations and conducting rapid detection after decontamination are the key points in nuclear decontamination work. However, the existing decontamination and detection are divided into different steps and the decontamination effect needs to be judged by means of special instruments, which hinder the nuclear rescue work to a certain extent. To effectively solve this problem, a novel detergent (CQDs-DTPA) was developed by doping diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) onto the surface of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) through an amidation reaction. The decontaminating effect of CQDs-DTPA on UO₂²⁺ reached 76.8 %, which is better than that of the clinical certification DTPA (decontaminating effect of 71.3 %). CQDs-DTPA is highly selective and sensitive to UO₂²⁺, and fluorescence quenching occurs after 10 s of exposure. During the decontamination process, it can be found that the fluorescence intensity of CQDs-DTPA increases with the removal of uranium and eventually returns to the initial value, which indicates the real-time monitoring role of CQDs-DTPA. In addition, safety experimental evaluations fully confirmed the safety of CQDs-DTPA in practical applications. This study indicated that CQDs-DTPA could serve as a radioactive uranium detergent with real-time detection of the decontamination effect, which could also provide a reference for developing other radionuclides' rapid decontamination agents.