Optical properties of pH-sensitive carbon-dots with different modifications

Carbon dots with unique characters of chemical inertness, low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility, demonstrate important applications in biology and optoelectronics . In this paper we report the optical properties of pH-sensitive carbon dots with different surface modifications. The as-prepared carbon dots can be well dispersed in water by modifying with acid, alkali or metal ions though they tend to form a suspension when being directly dispersed in water. We find that the carbon dots dispersed in water show a new emission and absorption character which is tunable due to the pH-sensitive nature. It is firstly proved that the addition of bivalent copper ions offers a high color contrast for visual colorimetric assays for pH measurement. The effect of surface defects with different modification on the performances of the carbon dots is also explored with a core–shell model. The hydro-dispersed carbon dots can be potentially utilized for cellular imaging or metal ion probes in biochemistry.