Gram-scale synthesis of nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots for sensitive detection of mercury ions and L-cysteine

Sensitive and reliable detection of mercury ions (Hg2+) and L-cysteine (L-Cys) is of great significance for toxicology assessment, environmental protection, food analysis and human health. Herein, we present gram-scale synthesis of nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) for sensitive detection of Hg2+ and L-Cys. The N-GQDs are one-step synthesized using bottom-up molecular fusion in a hydrothermal process with gram-scale yield at a single run. N-GQDs exhibit good structural characteristics including uniform size (∼2.1 nm), high crystallinity, and single-layered graphene thickness. Successful doping of N atom enables bright blue fluorescence (absolute photoluminescence quantum yield of 24.8%) and provides unique selectivity towards Hg2+. Based on the fluorescence quenching by Hg2+ (turn-off mode), N-GQDs are able to serve as an effective fluorescent probe for sensitive detection of Hg2+ with low limit of detection (19 nM). As L-Cys could recover the fluorescence of N-GQDs quenched by Hg2+, fluorescent detection of L-Cys is also demonstrated using turn-off-on mode.