Proper waste disposal from household and restaurants is becoming an important and recurring waste-management concern. Herein, a method of upcycling of waste kitchen chimney oil has been adopted to prepare fluorescent multifunctional carbon quantum dots. These nanodots showed superior biocompatibility, excellent optical properties, water solubility and high yield. Preparation of C-dots from highly abundant carbon source of waste refusals is highly effective in commercial aspect as well as in reducing the immense environmental pollution. The C-dots showed quasi-spherical size obtained from high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) having an abundance of 1-4 nm in size. The ease of water dispersibility of the nanodots is a mere reflection of their surface polarity which has been supported by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In the field of practical acceptability, the C-dots have been experimented to sense Fe3+ ion in a wide range of concentration (1 nM to 600 μM) with a detection limit of 0.18 nM which can be termed as 'tracer metal chemosensor'. Moreover, the prepared carbon dots were also tested against inter-cellular Fe3+ ion sensing probe. Lastly, we also fabricate the biopolymer‑carbon dots composite for fluorescent marker ink and light emitting polymer film.
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