Aggregation-induced bimodal excitation of nitrogen-doped carbon dots for ratiometric sensing of new coccine and solid-state multicolor lighting

Guoqiang Guo; Tingting Li; Yiru Wang; Houwen Hu; Haoming Xing; Siyuan Tang; Sineng Gao; Xuan Leng; Da Chen

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.114

Aggregation-induced bimodal excitation of nitrogen-doped carbon dots for ratiometric sensing of new coccine and solid-state multicolor lighting

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Sep:645:96-106. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.114. Epub 2023 Apr 28.

Authors

Guoqiang Guo¹, Tingting Li¹, Yiru Wang¹, Houwen Hu¹, Haoming Xing¹, Siyuan Tang², Sineng Gao¹, Xuan Leng³, Da Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China.
² Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Full Spectral Solar Electricity Generation (FSSEG), Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
³ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China. Electronic address: lengxuan@nbu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Microelectronic Science and Engineering, School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China. Electronic address: chenda@nbu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37146383
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.04.114

Abstract

Trace detection of foodstuff pigments have gained increasing attention because of their close association with biological and environmental processes. Herein, we propose an innovative bimodal excitation nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) for ratiometric sensing of new coccine (NC) pigment, which are synthesized by using melamine and o-phenylenediamine as precursors via solvothermal treatment. With the increase of the N-CDs concentration, N-CDs exhibit not only a concentration-dependent tunable color behavior, but also a novel aggregation-induced bimodal excitation phenomenon. Considering this distinctive bimodal excitation behavior, a ratiometric sensor based on N-CDs has been developed for the detection of the NC in different organic solvents due to the inner filter effect and fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The intensity ratio of two excitation signals is linear with the NC concentration in the range of 0.032-100 µM, and the limit of detection is as low as 32.1 nM. Meanwhile, we realize the design of multicolor-emission N-CDs/polymer films. All in all, this work presents a novel kind view of the mechanism of distinctive bimodal excitation of N-CDs, and further proposes an innovative ratiometric method for the screening analysis of NC in food samples and environmental pollutants.

Keywords: Bimodal excitation fluorescence; Fluorescent film; N-CDs; New coccine detection; Ratiometric sensor.