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A Bright Nitrogen-doped-Carbon-Dots based Fluorescent Biosensor for Selective Detection of Copper Ions

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Abstract

In this work, a novel fluorescent biosensor has been constructed for rapid detection of Cu(II) via the interaction between the fluorophore groups on the surface of nitrogen-doped-carbon-dots (N-CDs) and ·OH produced from the catalytic reaction between Cu (II) and cysteine (Cys). Specifically, Cu (II) can catalyze the oxidation of Cys to form cystine (Cys–Cys) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and Cu (II) can also catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 to produce hydroxyl radicals (·OH) by the Fenton-like reaction. ·OH can oxidize and destroy the surface structure of N-CDs, resulting in the fluorescence quenching of the N-CDs. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the linear range of Cu (II) is determined to be 0.05–25 μmol L−1, and the limit of detection is 23 nmol L−1 with the limit of quantitation of 77 nmol L−1. Besides, some characterizations are provided to verify the proposed principle. The method has been successfully applied for the detection of Cu (II) in human serum and environmental water with high sensitivity and higher selectivity.

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Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21775026, 21904020, 21974020), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT15R11), the cooperative project of production and study in the University of Fujian Province (2018Y4007), the Sciences Foundation of Fujian Province (2018J05018, 2018J01685, 2018J01682), “Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” Marine Economy Innovation and Development Demonstration Project (FZHJ19).

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  1. Shuting Chen and Chaoqun Chen contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biological Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China

    Shuting Chen & Fang Luo

  2. MOE Key Laboratory for Analytical Science of Food Safety and Biology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Analysis and Detection Technology for Food Safety, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China

    Shuting Chen, Chaoqun Chen, Jian Wang, Fang Luo, Longhua Guo, Bin Qiu & Zhenyu Lin

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  1. Shuting Chen
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  2. Chaoqun Chen
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Correspondence to Fang Luo or Zhenyu Lin.

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Chen, S., Chen, C., Wang, J. et al. A Bright Nitrogen-doped-Carbon-Dots based Fluorescent Biosensor for Selective Detection of Copper Ions. J. Anal. Test. 5, 84–92 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41664-021-00162-3

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