Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nitrogen-doped carbon dots as an effective fluorescence enhancing system for the determination of perfluorooctyl sulfonate

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Microchimica Acta Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) were synthesized via hydrothermal treatment of vitamin B1 and triethylamine. The NCDs exhibit strong blue fluorescence (with a peak at 437 nm at an excitation wavelength of 370 nm), good water solubility and excellent fluorescence stability in the pH 3~12 range, at ionic strengths between 0.01 and 1 M, and under UV illumination for 6 h, as well as incubation temperature of 15~60 °C. The nanoparticles respond selectively and sensitively to trace concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) through electrostatic interactions between PFOS and NCDs. This is accompanied by the aggregation of NCDs to yield enhanced fluorescence. The nanoprobe has high selectivity for PFOS even in presence of other common ions such as metal ions, anions, and structural analogues such as surfactants. Under the optimal conditions, the response is linear in the 0.3 to 160 nM PFOS concentration range with a detection limit of 0.3 nM. Satisfactory results were achieved for determination of PFOS in spiked real water samples.

Schematic presentation of the synthetic route to nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) starting from vitamin B1 and triethylamine, and its application for selective and sensitive fluorometric determination of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Giesy JP, Kannan K (2002) Perfluorochemical surfactants in the environment. Environ Sci Technol 36:146A–152A

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Carter KP, Young AM, Palmer AE (2014) Fluorescent sensors for measuring metal ions in living systems. Chem Rev 114:4564–4601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Viberg H, Eriksson P (2011) Perfluorooctane Sulfonate and Perfluorooctanoic Acid[M], Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, Elsevier

  4. Sanganyado E, Rajput IR, Liu W (2018) Bioaccumulation of organic pollutants in indo-Pacific humpback dolphin: a review on current knowledge and future prospects. Environ Pollut 237:111–125

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yin N, Yang R, Liang S, Liang S, Hu B, Ruan T, Faiola F (2018) Evaluation of the early developmental neural toxicity of F-53B, as compared to PFOS, with an in vitro mouse stem cell differentiation model. Chemosphere 204:109–118

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Armitage JM, Schenker U, Scheringer M, Martin JW, MacLeod M, Cousins IT (2009) Modeling the global fate and transport of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and precursor compounds in relation to temporal trends in wildlife exposure. Environ Sci Technol 43:9274–9280

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Daughton CG (2005) "Emerging" chemicals as pollutants in the environment: a 21st century perspective. Renew Resour J 23:6–23

    Google Scholar 

  8. Thanh W, Yawei W, Chunyang L, Yaqi C, Guibin J (2009) Perspectives on the inclusion of perfluorooctane sulfonate into the Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants. Environ Sci Technol 43:5171–5175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Provisional Health Advisories for Perfluorooctanoric acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS). http://water.epa.gov/action/advisories/drinking/upload/2009_01_15_criteria_drinking_pha_PFOA_PFOS.PDF. (Accessed July 2014)

  10. European Commission, Directive 2013/39/EU of the European Paliament and of the council of 12 august 2013 amending directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC as regards priority Subatances in the field of water policy. Official Journal of the European Union, 2013, L226/1

  11. Sun RWM, Tang L, Li J, Qian Z, Han T, Xu G (2018) Perfluorinated compounds in surface waters of Shanghai, China: source analysis and risk assessment. Ecotox Environ Safe 149:88–95

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zareitalabad P, Siemens J, Hamer M, Amelung W (2013) Amelung, Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in surface waters, sediments, soils and wastewater-a review on concentrations and distribution coefficients. Chemosphere 91:725–732

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Zacs D, Bartkevics V (2016) Trace determination of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid in environmental samples (surface water, wastewater, biota, sediments, and sewage sludge) using liquid chromatography-orbitrap mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1473:109–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Munoz G, Labadie P, Geneste E, Pardon P, Tartu S, Chastel O, Budzinski H (2017) Biomonitoring of fluoroalkylated substances in Antarctica seabird plasma: development and validation of a fast and rugged method using on-line concentration liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 1513:107–117

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Lin M, Yang Y, Liu Y, Sun MX (2013) Trace analysis of perfluorooctane sulfonic acid in textile fabrics by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry with on-column derivatization. Chinese J Anal Chem 41:888–892

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Sun YP, Zhou B, Lin Y, Wang W, Fernando KAS, Pathak P, Meziani MJ, Harruff BA, Wang X, Wang H, Luo PG, Yang H, Kose ME, Chen B, Veca LM, Xie SY (2006) Quantum-sized carbon dots for bright and colorful photoluminescence. J Am Chem Soc 128:7756–7757

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Li H, Kang Z, Liu Y, Lee S-T (2012) Carbon nanodots: synthesis, properties and applications. J Mater Chem 22:24230–24253

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Bandi R, Devulapalli NP, Dadigala R, Gangapuram BR, Guttena V (2018) Facile conversion of toxic cigarette butts to N,S-Codoped carbon dots and their application in fluorescent film, security ink, bioimaging, sensing and logic gate operation. ACS Omega 3:13454–13466

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Ding H, Du F, Liu P, Chen Z, Shen J (2015) DNA–carbon dots function as fluorescent vehicles for drug delivery. ACS Appl Mater Inter 7:6889–6897

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang L, Li M, Li W, Han Y, Liu Y, Li Z, Zhang B, Pan D (2018) Rationally designed efficient dual-mode colorimetric/fluorescence sensor based on carbon dots for detection of pH and Cu2+ ions. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 6:12668–12674

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Moon BJ, Oh Y, Shin DH, Kim SJ, Lee SH, Kim TW, Park M, Bae S (2016) Facile and purification-free synthesis of nitrogenated amphiphilic graphitic carbon dots. Chem Mater 28:1481–1488

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Yang S, Li Y, Wang S, Wang M, Chu M, Xia B (2018) Advances in the use of carbonaceous materials for the electrochemical determination of persistent organic pollutants. A review. Microchim Acta 185:112–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Xiang GQ, Ren Y, Xia Y, Mao W, Fan C, Guo SY, Wang PP, Yang DH, He L, Jiang X (2017) Carbon-dot-based dual-emission silica nanoparticles as a ratiometric fluorescent probe for bisphenol a. Spectrochim Acta A 177:153–157

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Liu G, Chen Z, Jiang X, Feng DQ, Zhao J, Fan D, Wang W (2016) In-situ hydrothermal synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers coated carbon dots for fluorescent detection of bisphenol a. Sensor Actuat B-Chem 228:302–307

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Wang Y, Ni P, Jiang S, Lu W, Li Z, Liu H, Lin J, Sun Y, Li Z (2018) Highly sensitive fluorometric determination of oxytetracycline based on carbon dots and Fe3O4 MNPs. Sensor Actuat B-Chem 254:1118–1124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Cheng Z, Dong H, Liang J, Zhang F, Chen X, Du L, Tan K (2019) Highly selective fluorescent visual detection of perfluorooctane sulfonate via blue fluorescent carbon dots and berberine chloride hydrate. Spectrochim Acta A 207:262–269

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Chen Q, Zhu P, Xiong J, Gao L, Tan K (2019) A sensitive and selective triple-channel optical assay based on red-emissive carbon dots for the determination of PFOS. Microchem J 145:388–396

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Jiao Z, Li J, Mo L, Liang J, Fan H (2018) A molecularly imprinted chitosan doped with carbon quantum dots for fluorometric determination of perfluorooctane sulfonate. Microchim Acta 185:473–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Shi L, Yang JH, Zeng HB, Chen YM, Yang SC, Wu C, Zeng H, Yoshihito O, Zhang Q (2016) Carbon dots with high fluorescence quantum yield: the fluorescence originates from organic fluorophores. Nanoscale 8:14374–14378

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Jana J, Ganguly M, Chandrakumar KR, Mohan RG, Pal T (2016) Boron precursor dependent evolution of differently emitting carbon dots. Langmuir 33:573–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wu M, Wang Y, Wu W, Hu C, Wang X, Zheng J, Li Z, Jiang B, Qiu J (2014) Preparation of functionalized water-soluble photoluminescent carbon quantum dots from petroleum coke. Carbon 78:480–489

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Reckmeier CJ, Wang Y, Zboril R, Rogach AL (2016) Influence of doping and temperature on solvatochromic shifts in optical spectra of carbon dots. J Phys Chem C 120:10591–10604

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Haijuan Z, Yonglei C, Meijuan L, Laifang X, Shengda Q, Hongli C, Xingguo C (2014) Solid-phase synthesis of highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots for sensitive and selective probing ferric ions in living cells. Anal Chem 86:9846–9852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Wu F, Zhu J, Tan K (2012) Resonance light scattering spectra of perfluorooctane sulfonate-protein system and its analytical application. Chinese J Appl Chem 29:969–973

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Zuo P, Lu X, Sun Z, Guo Y, Hua H (2016) A review on syntheses, properties, characterization and bioanalytical applications of fluorescent carbon dots. Microchim Acta 183:519–542

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21665018 and 21366024), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (No. 20181BAB203014) and Foundation of Jiangxi Educational Committee (No. GJJ160724). This work was also supported by the “Graduate Student Innovation Funds for the Nanchang Hangkong University (No.YC2018-S361)”.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Like Lin and Shuigen Zhou contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Jiangxi Province for Persistent Pollutants Control and Resources Recycle, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang, 330063, China

    Like Lin, Shuigen Zhou, Huiqin Guo, Yanfei Chen, Sen Lin, Liushui Yan, Kexin Li & Jing Li

Authors
  1. Like Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shuigen Zhou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Huiqin Guo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yanfei Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sen Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Liushui Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Kexin Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jing Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huiqin Guo or Liushui Yan.

Ethics declarations

The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Highlights

1) Nitrogen-doped carbon dots are a viable nanoprobe for PFOS detection

2) The detection strategy is based on fluorescence enhancement with LOD of 0.3 nM

3) The nanoprobe is sensitive and selectivity for PFOS detection in water samples

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOC 2.02 mb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lin, L., Zhou, S., Guo, H. et al. Nitrogen-doped carbon dots as an effective fluorescence enhancing system for the determination of perfluorooctyl sulfonate. Microchim Acta 186, 380 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3501-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3501-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation