Thioacetamide-derived nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon nanoparticles used for label-free detection of copper(ii) ions and bioimaging applications†
Abstract
Heteroatom-doped carbon nanoparticles have drawn considerable attention due to their promising applications extending from optoelectronics to biotechnology. Here, we prepared both nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon nanoparticles (NS-CNPs) from a single precursor, thioacetamide, using a hydrothermal method and showed that an ultra-low amount of copper ions can be detected through steady state photoluminescence of the NS-CNPs. The fluorescence intensity varies with the concentration of copper ions, and thus can be potentially used for quantification. The limit of detection (LOD) for copper ions is found to be 14 nM in the linear dynamic range from 0.02 to 0.1 μM. Finally, we have employed NS-CNPs for the detection of Cu2+ ions in yeast cells.