Hydrothermal Synthesis of a Novel Mesoporous Silica Fluorescence Carbon Dots and Application in Cr(VI) and Folic Acid Detection

Abstract

Highly blue fluorescence carbon dots (CDs-MCM) were successfully prepared via a simple hydrothermal method with citric acid and ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid doped mesoporous silica MCM-41. The CDs-MCM exhibited uniform particle size and possessed good excitation-dependent characteristic. It showed highly selectivity and sensitivity in detection of Cr(VI), folic acid and good linear ranges of 0–37.5[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]M ([Formula: see text]) and 0–50[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]M ([Formula: see text]). The low detection limits were 79.31[Formula: see text]nM and 118.73[Formula: see text]nM for Cr(VI) and folic acid, respectively. It revealed that inner filter effect dominated in Cr(VI) quenching of the CDs-MCM fluorescent, while that of folic acid belonged to static quenching. The CDs-MCM were successfully used to detect the Cr(Vl) and folic acid in water and vegetable samples with satisfactory results. It provided new insight into environmental Cr(VI) and folic acid detection.