Carbon Quantum Dots' Synthesis with a Strong Chemical Claw for Five Transition Metal Sensing in the Irving-Williams Series

Anastasia Yakusheva; Anastasia Sayapina; Lev Luchnikov; Dmitry Arkhipov; Gopalu Karunakaran; Denis Kuznetsov

doi:10.3390/nano12050806

Carbon Quantum Dots' Synthesis with a Strong Chemical Claw for Five Transition Metal Sensing in the Irving-Williams Series

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Feb 27;12(5):806. doi: 10.3390/nano12050806.

Authors

Anastasia Yakusheva¹, Anastasia Sayapina¹, Lev Luchnikov¹, Dmitry Arkhipov¹, Gopalu Karunakaran², Denis Kuznetsov¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Functional Nanosystems and High-Temperature Materials, National University of Science and Technology MISIS, Leninsky Prospect 4, 119049 Moscow, Russia.
² Institute for Applied Chemistry, Department of Fine Chemistry, Seoul National University of Science and Technology (Seoul Tech), Gongneung-ro 232, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Korea.

Abstract

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are an excellent eco-friendly fluorescence material, ideal for various ecological testing systems. Herein, we establish uniform microwave synthesis of the group of carbon quantum dots with specific functionalization of ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, and three types of Trilon (A, B and C) with chelate claws -C-NH₃. CQDs' properties were studied and applied in order to sense metal cations in an aquatic environment. The results provide the determination of the fluorescence quench in dots by pollutant salts, which dissociate into double-charged ions. In particular, the chemical interactions with CQDs' surface in the Irving-Williams series (IWs) via functionalization of the negatively charged surface were ascribed. CQD-En and CQD-Dien demonstrated linear fluorescence quenching in high metal cation concentrations. Further, the formation of claws from Trilon A, Trilon B, and C effectively caught the copper and nickel cations from the solution due to the complexation on CQDs' surface. Moreover, CQD-Trilon C presented chelating properties of the surface and detected five cations (Cu²⁺, Ni²⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Zn²⁺) from 0.5 mg/mL to 1 × 10^-7 mg/mL in the Irving-William's series. Dependence was mathematically attributed as an equation (ML regression model) based on the constant of complex formation. The reliability of the data was 0.993 for the training database.

Keywords: aminopolycarboxylic acid (APCA); carbon quantum dots; chelating agent; fluorescence polarization; fluorescence properties; fluorescence quenching; surface design; transitional metal’s salts.