One-Step Synthesis of Label-Free Ratiometric Fluorescence Carbon Dots for the Detection of Silver Ions and Glutathione and Cellular Imaging Applications

Abstract

The construction of ratiometric fluorescence assay has displayed fantastic advantages in improving semi-quantitative visualization capability by presenting successive color changes. Herein, long-wavelength emission nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were developed for intrinsic ratiometric detection of silver ions (Ag⁺) and glutathione (GSH), accompanied by visualization fluorescence variation of orange and green. The label-free N-CDs were favorably obtained through one-step hydrothermal synthesis and displayed single long-wavelength emission at 618 nm under the excitation wavelength of 478 nm. Interestingly, a ratio rising peak emerges at 532 nm and the emission at 618 nm decreases with the introduction of Ag⁺, which exhibits ratiometric fluorescence emission characteristics ( I_618nm/ I_532nm) in the range of 0-140 μM with significant fluorescence varying from orange to green. Furthermore, the fluorescence of CDs@Ag(I) can be effectively ratiometric recovered by virtue of a specific reaction of GSH with Ag⁺, which is accompanied by the fluorescence of the solution returning from green to orange. In addition, the N-CDs hold excellent biocompatibility which can be implemented as the visualization biosensing platform for intracellular determination of Ag⁺ and GSH, demonstrating that proposed N-CDs have tremendous potential in biological systems.