Detection of picric acid in industrial effluents using multifunctional green fluorescent B/N-carbon quantum dots

Carbon quantum dots have recently gained widespread attention due to their excellent physicochemical features. The rapid escalation in the dumping of hazardous chemicals into water, spurred demand for developing efficient and selective sensors for toxic chemicals. Herein, we have developed a novel fluorescence sensor for picric acid which is a major pollutant in industrial effluents. The new strategy exploits the development of a fluorescence sensor based on N-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs) followed by boron functionalization. The N-CQDs were synthesized in a rapid single-step microwave technique by employing L-serine and citric acid. Subsequent boron functionalization of N-CQDs was carried out using boric acid for the synthesis of Boron-nitrogen carbon quantum dots (B/N-CQDs). The B/N-CQDs were found to exhibit high quantum yield (24%), good water solubility, outstanding photostability features, and bright green fluorescence under UV light. The morphology of B/N-CQDs is spherical, with scattered particle sizes ranging from 2 to 8 nanometers. Furthermore, B/N-CQDs were found to be an effective fluorescence probe for the selective and sensitive detection of picric acid, with a good linear range of 37 nM-30 µM and a detection limit of 1.8 nM. The Photoluminescence (PL) intensity of B/N-CQDs was selectively quenched by picric acid. The quenching mechanism was conclusively established using fluorescence lifetime decay studies. Moreover, the synthesized B/N-CQDs was successfully employed for the analysis of picric acid from industrial effluents and cell imaging with Hela cells to showcase the utility of the developed fluorescent probe.