Carbon dot based sensing platform for real-time imaging Cu2+ distribution in plants and environment

Junjie Lin; Xiaoman Huang; Erfeng Kou; Wenxiao Cai; Haoran Zhang; Xuejie Zhang; Yingliang Liu; Wei Li; Yinjian Zheng; Bingfu Lei

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2022.114848

Carbon dot based sensing platform for real-time imaging Cu²⁺ distribution in plants and environment

Biosens Bioelectron. 2023 Jan 1:219:114848. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114848. Epub 2022 Oct 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China.
² Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China. Electronic address: liwei@scau.edu.cn.
³ Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Chengdu, 610218, PR China. Electronic address: zhengyinjian@caas.cn.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, PR China; Maoming Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangdong, Maoming, 525100, PR China. Electronic address: tleibf@scau.edu.cn.

PMID: 36327556
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114848

Abstract

Divalent copper is a double-edged sword for plants, excess or shortage of copper ions will cause adverse reactions in plants. Currently, Cu²⁺ sensor for plants is still underdeveloped and new technology is urgently required for realizing one-step and real-time detection of Cu²⁺ in plants. Herein, a home-made and low-cost sensing platform is constructed by using carbon dots (CDs) as the optical probe, electronic devices for image acquisition, and a built-in algorithm program for image processing, which allows the dynamic monitoring of Cu²⁺ distribution in different plant species with high spatial and temporal resolution. We found that the detection limit of R-CDs for Cu²⁺ in water sample was 0.375 nM, and 11.7 mg/kg or even less Cu²⁺ in plants can be visually observed and accurately detected by the sensing platform. Moreover, this sensing platform has also been employed for reporting the spatial distribution of Cu²⁺ in the external environment of plants, demonstrating its applicability for monitoring Cu²⁺ both in living plants and the surrounding environment. This study provides a smart sensing platform for precise detection in plant internal and external environments, offering a promising strategy for precision agriculture in real-time and remote-control manners.

Keywords: Biosensor; Carbon dots; Cu(2+) detection; Plant.