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A turn-on ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe based on AgInZnS and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots for Cd2+ detection in lake water

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Abstract

Excessive Cd2+ poses adverse influences on ecosystem and human beings, but its precise detection via a facile and environment-friendly method with resistance to interference is still a challenge. Here, a turn-on ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe for Cd2+ detection is established using yellow-emission AgInZnS quantum dots (AIZS QDs) and blue-emission nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs), which serve as a recognition unit and internal reference signal, respectively. Cd2+ could enhance the fluorescence of AIZS QDs due to the passivation of surface defects, while it has no significant effect on that of NGQDs. This nanoprobe has a large detection range from 0.5 to 100 µM and a limit of detection low to 28.6 nM. It shows strong anti-interference ability for Cd2+ even in lake water samples with recovery from 98 to 101% and low relative standard deviation of 1.01%, indicating its excellent effectuation to real-application world.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge generous support from J. C. Kempes Minnes Stipendiefond (No. SMK-1849.1), the Swedish Energy Agency (Nos. 45419-1, 46523-1, and 50779-1), Bertil & Britt Svenssons stiftelse för belysningsteknik, the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education via an Initiation Grant for Internationalization (No. 2019-8553).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physical Science and Technology & Microelectronics Industry Research Institute, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, People’s Republic of China

    Yongfeng Liu, Zhaoju Gao, Xiuwen Shao & Jinpeng Yang

  2. Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology & Systems of the Education Ministry of China, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, People’s Republic of China

    Yongfeng Liu, Xiaosheng Tang, Ming Deng & Tao Zhu

  3. Department of Physics, Umeå University, 90187, Umeå, Sweden

    Yongfeng Liu & Jia Wang

  4. College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University of Post and Telecommunications, Chongqing, 400065, People’s Republic of China

    Weiwei Chen

  5. Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Taipa, 999078, Macao SAR, People’s Republic of China

    Hao Lin

Authors
  1. Yongfeng Liu
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  2. Zhaoju Gao
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  3. Xiuwen Shao
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  4. Jinpeng Yang
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  5. Xiaosheng Tang
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  6. Jia Wang
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  7. Weiwei Chen
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  8. Hao Lin
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  9. Ming Deng
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  10. Tao Zhu
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Contributions

YL contributed to conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft. YT contributed to supervision. ZG contributed to data curation, XS contributed to software, visualization. JY contributed to software, visualization. XT contributed to supervision. JW contributed to formal analysis. WC contributed to validation, investigation. HL contributed to data curation. MD contributed to supervision. TZ contributed to supervision, funding acquisition.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yongfeng Liu or Tao Zhu.

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Handling Editor: Catalin Croitoru.

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Liu, Y., Gao, Z., Shao, X. et al. A turn-on ratiometric fluorescent nanoprobe based on AgInZnS and nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots for Cd2+ detection in lake water. J Mater Sci 57, 17336–17346 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07721-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07721-8

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