Simple synthesis of green luminescent N-doped carbon dots for malachite green determination

Abstract

In this paper, novel N-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were prepared from fuchsin basic and ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid–disodium salt (EDTA–2Na). The N-CDs were characterized by a series of techniques and it was found that the average particle size was 2.75 nm, and the surface had functional groups such as –NH₂ and –COOH. Interestingly, N-CDs exhibited a fast and sensitive response to malachite green (MG), which may be due to the inner filter effect (IFE). A method for the detection of MG in water samples from Jinyang Lake was developed using N-CDs, with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 27.28 nM. Furthermore, N-CDs were utilized in the biological imaging of Arabidopsis thaliana.