Nitrogen‐doped carbon dots as a fluorescent probe for the highly sensitive detection of bilirubin and cell imaging

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) with bright blue fluorescence were constructed by a hydrothermal method using sucrose and L-proline as raw materials. The NCDs were characterized by transmitted electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fouriertransform infrared spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and ultravioletvisible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy to investigate the morphology, elemental composition, and optical properties. The NCDs had good water solubility, high dispersibility with an average diameter of only 1.7 nm, and satisfactory optical properties with a fluorescence quantum yield of 23.4%. The NCDs were employed for the detection of bilirubin. A good linear response of the NCDs in the range 0.35-9.78 μM was obtained for bilirubin with a detection limit of 33 nM. The NCDs were also applied to the analysis of real samples, serum and urine, with a recovery of 95.34% to 104.66%. The low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility of the NCDs were indicated by an MTT assay and cell imaging of HeLa cells. Compared with other detection systems, using NCDs for bilirubin detection was a facile and efficient method with good selectivity and sensitivity.

Green synthesis of yellow-green emissive silicon nanoparticles and their application for the sensitive fluorescence detection of bilirubin

“…Furthermore, compared with other fluorescence methods for bilirubin detection, the established method exhibited the advantages of a green and mild synthesis process, easy and rapid detection, wide linear detection and comparable LOD (Table 1). 3,14–17…”

“…14 Li et al constructed nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) using sucrose and l -proline as raw materials by a hydrothermal method for the detection of bilirubin and HeLa cell imaging. 16 Nevertheless, the reported fluorescence methods for bilirubin detection based on nanomaterials still have some drawbacks such as complex preparation process, environmental unfriendliness and sensitivity to be improved. Compared with the above-mentioned nanomaterials, water-soluble silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) exhibit the advantages of a simple synthesis process, no heavy metal elements and non-toxicity.…”

“…Recently, several uorescent nanomaterials have been prepared for bilirubin sensing, which include metalorganic frameworks (MOFs), 13 semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), 3 metal nanoclusters (NCs), 14 graphene quantum dots 15 and carbon quantum dots (CQDs). 16,17 For example, Xia et al established a uorescence method based on gold nanocluster (AuNC) and metal-organic framework composite materials (AuNCs@ZIF-8) for efficient detection of bilirubin. 14 Li et al constructed nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) using sucrose and L-proline as raw materials by a hydrothermal method for the detection of bilirubin and HeLa cell imaging.…”

Blue Light-Excited Carbon Dot/C3N4 Nanocomposites with Long-Lived Thermally Activated Delay Fluorescence for Anti-Counterfeiting and Illumination

“…35 The sharp absorption peaks at 1628 and 1450 cm 36 The Cl 2p XPS spectrum of Cl-CD containing two components peaked at 197.3 and 198.7 eV, which can be assigned to Cl−C and Cl−H bonds. 37 The FTIR and XPS spectrum results indicate a substantial presence of the amount of functional groups on the surface of Cl-CDs which provides convenient conditions for the dehydration reaction to embed CDs into some matrix and generate the covalent bonds.…”