Development of Carbon Dot and Related Hybrid Materials for Fluorescence Sensing Applications

Abstract

Although extensive work has been done on rapid detection of metal ions, anions and biomolecules using luminescent carbon quantum dots (CD) based on different mechanism like IFE and PET mechanism. The available documentation on development of luminescent sensors for the visual detection of biomolecules and pollutants is extremely scant. The main focus of this doctoral research work is to design carbon dots for sensing of important biomolecules and environmental pollutants. We aim to incorporate carbon dots in the solid matrix to enhance the fluorescence properties. Utilizing the improved fluorescence property of carbon dots we further want to construct smart nanosensors to detect biomolecules and pollutants in aqueous phase as well as in solid phase. To achieve our aim, we mainly emphasize on the following issues, 1) low energy and cost effective approach for synthesis of carbon dots, 2) choice of a molecular precursor certifying the availability of abundant surface functional groups so as to ensure a superior molecular recognition by the target analyte, 3) selection of proper quencher, 4) Incorporating CD in a solid matrix to develop a more stable carbon dot based sensor, 4) development of solid strip or hydrogel based sensor for visual detection of the analytes. In line with our objective we have developed CD-based fluorescence nanosensor for detection of two important biogenic amines i.e. bilirubin and histamine, one organic pollutant 2,4,6 trinitrophenol and one inorganic pollutant dichromate.