Abstract:
We report a method for the of coal-based fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) at room temperature using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide (H
2O
2) and formic acid (HCOOH) as the oxidant instead of concentrated HNO
3 or H
2SO
4. The CDs have an excitation dependent behavior with a high quantum yield (QY) of approximately 7.2%. The CDs are water soluble and have excellent photo-stability, good resistance to salt solutions, and are insensitive to pH in a range of 2.0-12.0. The CDs were used as a very sensitive probe for the turn-off sensing of Fe
3+ ion with a detection limit as low as 600 nmol/L and a detection range from 2 to 100 μmol/L. This work provides a way for the high value-added utilization of coal.