Efficient Synthesis of Highly Fluorescence Nitrogen Doped Carbon Dots and Its Application for Sensor and Cell Imaging

In this present paper, we effectively synthesize the high quantum yield along with the strong photoluminescent (PL) nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) through a simplistic as well as rapid microwave aided technique by use of citric acid as the carbon source as well as hexamethylenetetramine as the nitrogen doped reagent. The obtained N-CDs had a high quantum yield (QY) of 45.5%, which had been measured by UV, FTIR, TEM, XPS together with fluorescence (FL) spectroscope. Then, we also employed N-CDs applications as probe for detection of heavy metal ions. The N-CDs display fascinating sensitivity along with selectivity toward Fe³⁺ with a linear range between 0.05 and 35.0 μM as well as a detection limit of 20.0 nM. Additionally, the as-prepared N-CDs exhibit low cytotoxicity, hence they can be utilized as fluorescent examinations for cell imaging. It demonstrates that N-CDs have good biocompatibility and potential for bioimaging applications.