Environmentally sustainable synthesis of whey-based carbon dots for ferric ion detection in human serum and water samples: evaluating the greenness of the method

Kawan F Kayani; Omer B A Shatery; Muhammad S Mustafa; Azad H Alshatteri; Sewara J Mohammed; Shujahadeen B Aziz

doi:10.1039/d3ra08680a

Environmentally sustainable synthesis of whey-based carbon dots for ferric ion detection in human serum and water samples: evaluating the greenness of the method

RSC Adv. 2024 Feb 8;14(8):5012-5021. doi: 10.1039/d3ra08680a. eCollection 2024 Feb 7.

Authors

Kawan F Kayani^{1

2}, Omer B A Shatery¹, Muhammad S Mustafa¹, Azad H Alshatteri³, Sewara J Mohammed^{4

5}, Shujahadeen B Aziz^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Sulaimani Qliasan St 46002 Sulaimani City Kurdistan Region Iraq Sewara.mohammed@univsul.edu.iq.
² Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Charmo University Peshawa Street, Chamchamal Sulaimani City 46023 Iraq.
³ Department of Chemistry, College of Education, University of Garmian Kalar 46021 Sulaimani Kurdistan Region Iraq.
⁴ Anesthesia Department, College of Health Sciences, Cihan University Sulaimaniya Sulaimaniya 46001 Kurdistan Region Iraq.
⁵ Hameed Majid Advanced Polymeric Materials Research Lab., Research and Development Center, University of Sulaimani Qlyasan Street Sulaymaniyah Kurdistan Region 46001 Iraq.
⁶ Department of Physics, College of Science, Charmo University Chamchamal 46023 Sulaymaniyah Iraq.

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) are valued for their biocompatibility, easy fabrication, and distinct optical characteristics. The current study examines using whey to fabricate CDs using the hydrothermal method. When stimulated at 350 nm, the synthetic CDs emitted blue light at 423 nm and revealed a selective response to ferric ion (Fe³⁺) in actual samples with great sensitivity, making them a suitable probe for assessing Fe³⁺ ions. The produced carbon dots demonstrated great photostability, high sensitivity, and outstanding biocompatibility. The findings showed that Fe³⁺ ions could be quickly, sensitively, and extremely selectively detected in an aqueous solution of carbon dots, with a revealing limit of 0.409 μM in the linear range of 0-180 μM. Interestingly, this recognition boundary is far inferior to the WHO-recommended threshold of 0.77 μM. Two metric tools which were AGREE and the ComplexGAPI were also used to evaluate the method's greenness. The evaluation confirmed its superior environmental friendliness.