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The fluorescent N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) obtained from C3N4 emit strong blue fluorescence, which is stable with different ionic strengths and time. The fluorescence intensity of N-CDs decreases with the temperature increasing, while it can recover to the initial one with the temperature decreasing. It is an accurate linear response of fluorescence intensity to temperature, which may be attributed to the synergistic effect of abundant oxygen-containing functional groups and hydrogen bonds. Further experiments also demonstrate that N-CDs can serve as effective in vitro and in vivo fluorescence-based nanothermometer.

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Developing light-driven acid catalyst will be very meaningful for the controlled-acid catalytic processes towards a green chemical industry. Here, based on scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and ΔpH testing, we demonstrate that the 5-10 nm carbon quantum dots (CQDs) synthesized by electrochemical ablation of graphite have strong light-induced proton properties under visible light in solution, which can be used as an acid catalyst. The 5-10 nm CQDs' catalytic activity is strongly dependent on the illumination intensity and the temperature of the reaction system. As an effective visible light driven and controlled acid-catalyst, 5-10 nm CQDs can catalyze a series of organic reactions (esterification, Beckmann rearrangement and aldol condensation) with high conversion (34.7-46.2%, respectively) in water solution under visible light, while the 1-4 nm CQDs and 10-2000 nm graphite do not have such excellent catalytic activity. The use of 5-10 nm CQDs as a light responsive and controllable photocatalyst is truly a novel application of carbon-based nanomaterials, which may significantly push research in the current catalytic industry, environmental pollution and energy issues.

Carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by refluxing glucose, as efficient fluorescence probes, which show convenient and sensitive detection of norfloxacin (NOR) over a wide concentration range. It is worth noting that because of the hydrogen bond interactions between the CDs and NOR, the fluorescence intensity of CDs was remarkably enhanced in the presence of NOR, which indicates that CDs are capable of rapid, stable and sensitive determination of NOR. Compared with high-performance liquid chromatography, the fluorescence enhancement method is considerably simpler and faster, and will pave a new way for the determination of NOR.