Water‐soluble carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized using a one‐step hydrothermal treatment of chloroplast dispersions extracted from fresh leaves as a green carbon source. The CD solution showed an emission peak centred at 445 nm when excited at 300 nm. The synthesized CDs were uniform and monodispersed with an average size of 5.6 nm. When adding ferric(III) ions (Fe3+) to the solution of the original CDs, the fluorescence intensity decreased significantly. Based on the linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and concentration of Fe3+ ions, an effective method for rapid, sensitive and selective Fe3+ sensing in aqueous solution could be established. Under optimum conditions, the extent of the fluorescence quenching of prepared CDs strongly depended on the Fe3+ ions over a wide concentration range 1.0–100.0 μM with a detection limit (3σ/k) of 0.3 μM. Furthermore, the quantitative determination of Fe3+ ions in environmental water samples was realized.

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