Amphipathic carbon dots with solvent-dependent optical properties and sensing application

Carbon dots (CDs) have been regarded as novel heavy-metal-free fluorescent materials because of their prominent optical features. In this work, one type of amphipathic CDs is prepared by facile one-step solvothermal treatment of p-Phenylenediamine. The obtained CDs own numerous surface function groups which endow them prominent dispersibility in different solvents. Absorption, steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy have been adopted to investigate the mutual influence between the surface groups and different solvent molecules on the optical properties of the CDs. Strong solvatochromic behavior with tunable emission from blue to green and strict excitation-independent emission characteristic can be observed when the as-prepared CDs are dissolved in different solvents, suggesting their feasible sensing applications as an alternative of solvatochromic dye molecules. Furthermore, highly selective detection of Cu2+ ions using the as-synthesized CDs as sensing probes is achieved. It is expected that the investigated CDs with solvent-dependent optical properties as well as selective Cu2+ detection may have broad application prospects in bioimaging and biodetecting.