Carbon quantum dots activated metal organic frameworks for selective detection of Cu(Ⅱ) and Fe(Ⅲ)

In this study, 2-amino-terephthalic acid was designed for construction of MOFs , and carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were designed to activate the Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) to be used as fluorescent sensor for selectively detection for Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ , enhancing the fluorescence to an “on” state by the hybrid with CQDs in the MOFs as activating agent; quenching the fluorescence to an “off” state by removal of CQDs through the metal competitive coordination substitution strategy. Using this strategy, the prepared CQDs/MOFs material can be used as a fluorescence “on-off” probe for highly sensitive detection of Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ in aqueous solution. It was found that the LOD of CQDs/MOFs for sensing Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ were 2.3 ppb and 1.3 ppb, respectively. It was proved that the CQDs/MOFs has little cytotoxicity to 4T-1 cells, indicating the potential application in the detection for Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ ions in cells.