Synthesis of highly photoluminescent carbon dots via citric acid and Tris for iron(III) ions sensors and bioimaging

In this work, high quantum yield and strong photoluminescent carbon quantum dots (C-QDs) are successfully synthesized via a facile and green hydrothermal method using citric acid and Tris as precursors. The as-synthesized C-QDs with a quantum yield (QY) as high as 52% were characterized by UV, FT-IR, TEM, XPS and fluorescence spectroscope. TEM results show that C-QDs are mono-dispersed spherical particles and the diameter distribution of C-QDs is 2.8±1.1 nm. The extraordinary photoluminescent properties and low cytotoxicity of C-QDs were obtained through optical property characterization and cytotoxicity assay. In addition, we found that the as-prepared C-QDs had a high affinity for Fe(3+) ions and the response toward Fe(3+) ions was highly linear (R(2)=0.997) over the concentration range from 2 to 50 μM, which could provide an effective platform for portable detection of Fe(3+) ions. Also, it is demonstrated that the photoluminescent C-QDs display hypotoxicity and are biocompatible for use as biosensors in living cells.