Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

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Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X

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Highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots derived from jengkol peels

(Archindendron pauciflorum) by solvothermal synthesis for sensitive Hg2+
ions detection
Aniza Salviana Prayugo a, Marpongahtun b, c, *, Saharman Gea b, Amru Daulay a,
Mahyuni Harahap d, Jonathan Siow e, Ronn Goei f, Alfred Iing Yoong Tok f
a
Postgraduate School, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Bioteknologi No.1, Medan, 20155,
Indonesia
b
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Bioteknologi No. 1, Medan, 20155, Indonesia
c
Cellulosic Functional Material-Research Center, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jalan Bioteknologi No. 1, Kampus USU, Padang Bulan, 20215, Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
d
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science Technology and Information, Sari Mutiara Indonesia University, Jl. Kapten Muslim No. 79, Medan, 20124, Indonesia
e
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological University, 62 Nanyang Drive, 637459, Singapore
f
School of Material Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 637335, Singapore

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: A facile synthesis method involving a one-step solvothermal method is demonstrated in producing fluorescent
Carbon dots nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) by employing biomass waste (Jengkol peels) and ethylenediamine as a
Jengkol peels source for carbon and nitrogen. The synthesized N-CDs are spherical nanoparticles with an average size of 4.495
Solvothermal
nm, exhibit solubility in water, emit bluish-green fluorescence and a high quantum yield of up to 42%. By using
Nitrogen-doped
Hg2+ detection
UV–Visible, FTIR, XPS, HR-TEM and Photoluminescence analysis, the as-prepared N-CDs were verified. We
Fluorescence sensing demonstrate that nitrogen doping increases fluorescence emission intensity to its radiative recombination of the
π − π* transitions at C––C and n − π* at C– –O or C– –N. an optimized excitation at 370 nm, the N-CDs exhibited
strong PL emission at 522 nm. Under optimized conditions, N-CDs can be used to detect Hg2+ ions based on
quenched fluorescence phenomenon. The result reveals excellent selectivity and sensitivity to Hg2+ ions with a
detection range of 0.5 μM–4.5 μM. The resulting N-CDs may be used for detecting Hg2+ ions in cosmetics and tap
water.

1. Introduction ablation(Kaczmarek et al., 2021), arch discharge (Chao-Mujica et al.,

2021), pyrolysis (Marpongahtun et al., 2023), and nitric acid/sulfuric
Carbon dots (CDs) are dimension zero quasi-spherical carbon nano­ oxidation (González-González et al., 2022) methods. These methods had
particle fluorescence materials with a size <10 nm, initial discovery in drawbacks, including complicated synthesis techniques, harsh climate,
2004 by the purification of carbon nanotubes (X. Xu et al., 2004). The low quantum yields, high cost, environmental damage, rarely these
advantages of CDs over quantum dots in semiconductors and organic techniques utilized to synthesized CDs from organic materials, and a
dyes include their good photostability, high QY, minimal cytotoxicity, time-consuming process to remove too much acid (Kang et al., 2020).
small size, low cost, easy surface functional ability, dependent fluores­ While the microwave irradiation method can help reduce reaction time,
cence excitation wavelength, and simple tuning of the luminescence its high energy consumption could be a drawback (Villalba-Rodríguez
according to the application used, which makes them ideal for in various et al., 2022). Solvothermal methods are attractive for researchers
fields including optoelectrical sensing (Alkian et al., 2022), antibacterial because they may involve one step during synthesis, are low cost, are
(Pramudita et al., 2022), biomedicine (Zhu et al., 2022), and smart effective in regulating nanomaterials structure, and require simple
window (Goei et al., 2022). equipment (Kang et al., 2020).
CDs can be synthesized by various methods, including such as laser Recent developments have seen the utilization of waste biomass rich

* Corresponding author. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Jl. Bioteknologi No. 1, Medan,
20155, Indonesia.
E-mail address: [email protected] (Marpongahtun).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosx.2023.100363
Received 15 February 2023; Received in revised form 17 April 2023; Accepted 29 May 2023
Available online 20 June 2023
2590-1370/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
A.S. Prayugo et al. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

in phytochemicals as a carbon source for the synthesis of CDs (Dhanush readily soluble in solvents.
et al., 2022). Jengkol peels (Archindendron pauciflorum) is a biomass
waste that contains phytochemical compounds such as flavonoids, 2.3. Synthesis of carbon dots (CDs) and nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-
phenols, saponins and tannins (Rahmayanti et al., 2022). In addition, it CDs)
also contains hemicellulose, cellulose, pectin, lignin (Wardani et al.,
2020), and jengkolat acid (Nadira Hurairah et al., 2023). The large Jengkol peels extract (50 mL) was placed into a 100 mL autoclave in
amount of jengkol peels waste that is not suitable for consumption and a high-temperature reaction kettle lined with Teflon at 200 ◦ C for 7 h.
has no economic value resulting from traditional markets or households After cooling to room temperature, a brown mixture was obtained. This
will cause environmental pollution, including the smell of sulfur that Browne suspension was centrifuged for 40 min at 5500 rpm to separate
arises as a result of the degradation of sulfuric amino acids into smaller the solids containing CDs.
components. Therefore, finding a use for jengkol peels waste requires For the synthesis of N-CDs, jengkol peels extract (50 mL) was added
balancing technological advancement, financial viability, and environ­ to ethylenediamine (10 mL) in a beaker and stirred at 350 rpm for 15
mental concern. It employed jengkol peels as a carbon source to syn­ min using a magnetic stirrer until the solution was homogenous. This
thesized CDs, which helped it dispose of jengkol peels waste more solution was transferred to a similar autoclave and processing conditions
effectively. as described above and have been presented in Fig. 1. a similar centri­
One drawback is that CDs produced from natural precursors exhibit fuge and filtration process as CDs was also employed to obtain N-CDs.
quantum fluorescence intensities that are ~10% less (Haochi et al.,
2019) compared to metal-based quantum dot semiconductors, this af­ 2.4. Fluorescence quantum yield measurements
fects the sensitivity of the synthesized CDs in sensing applications. The
mechanism of fluorescence in CDs is related to its surface state, which Quantum yield (QY) measurements of CDs and N-CDs are calculated
includes defects and functional groups (Liu et al., 2020) (Ding et al., using the following equation (1) from the literature (Yi et al., 2021):
2020) (Wang et al., 2017). In CDs synthesis, the CDs surface is covered
by various hydrophilic groups such as ─OH,─C– – O or ─COOH (Ding Ic As (ηc)2
QYc = QYs × × × (1)
et al., 2020). These groups allow CDs to be surface functionalized. by Is Ac ηs
adding heteroatoms so as to increase the fluorescence properties and the
resulting quantum yield. This allows CDs to undergo surface function­ Quinine sulfate was chosen as the fluorescence reference (QY = 54% and
alization –N, C, B heteroatom doping (Sun and Lei, 2017). Nitrogen is η = 1.33), where QY is the quantum yield value. I is the area of inte­
often used as a dopant because of its valence electrons, atomic size grated photoluminescence intensity, A is the absorbance value, and η is
which is not much different from the carbon atoms that it can be con­ the refractive index of the solvent. The subscripts “c” and “s” refer to CDs
nected to easily into the framework of the carbon material (Yan et al., and Quinine sulfate. The respective photoluminescence spectra were
2019) and N doping may also act as an electron donor that increases obtained from a Perkin Elmer fluorescence spectrometer (model LS45).
fermi energy levels.
To date, the fluorescence properties of heteroatom-doped CDs have 2.5. Characterization
been developed as a sensor material for detecting the presence of heavy
metal ions content such as mercury (Hg2+) (Yongli Liu et al., 2022) High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) was
(Zhou et al., 2022) (Korah et al., 2022). Therefore, the potential for performed using a JEOL-2100 TEM (accelerating voltage of 200 kV) to
employing CDs as accurate, sensitive, and efficient materials for characterize the CDs solution’s morphology. The particle size of CDs was
detecting mercury metal ion content is relatively high. This synthesis of determined with image J software. Fourier- Transform Infrared Spec­
CDs from jengkol peels is described in this study. The CDs is prepared troscopy (FTIR) spectra were recorded to analyse surface functional
with a target application as a sensor that exhibits fluorescence upon groups CDs in 4000 cm− 1 – 400 cm− 1 at room temperature using a
interaction with heavy metal Hg2+ ions. Perkin Elmer spectrometer. The sample’s chemical analysis was inves­
tigated using X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) carried out using
2. Materials and methods the Kratos Axis Supra and monochromatic Al-Kα radiation of 1,486.6 eV
at 150 W. UV–Visible spectrophotometer by using a Shimadzu UV-1800
2.1. Materials in the range 200–700 nm and the fluorescence photoluminescence
spectrometer by using a Perkin Elmer LS45 were utilized to record the
Jengkol peels were taken from Sumatera Utara Province, Indonesia. optical properties of various operations respectively.
Ethanol (C2H6O 97%) and 18.2 MΩ/cm of deionized water were bought
from CV. Rudang Jaya, Indonesia. Ethylenediamine (C2H4(NH2)2 98 wt 2.6. Heavy metal ion detection
%), standard solution of Cobalt (II) nitrate (Co(NO3)2); Mercury (II)
nitrate (Hg(NO3)2); Iron(II) nitrate (Fe(NO3)2); Zinc (II) nitrate (Zn The detection and selectivity of Hg2+ in the presence of various
(NO3)2); Nickel (II) nitrate (Ni(NO3)2); Manganese (II) nitrate (Mn heavy metal ions was evaluated based on the quenched fluorescence-
(NO3)2); Copper (II) nitrate (Cu(NO3)2); Cadmium II) nitrate (Cd phenomenon. N-CDs solution (2 mL) was mixed with 100 μM concen­
(NO3)2); Lead (II) nitrate (Pb(NO3)2); Chromium (II) nitrate (Cr(NO3)2) tration of each the heavy metal ions, including Co2+, Hg2+, Fe2+, Zn2+,
and Magnesium(II) nitrate (Mg(NO3)2) were bought from Merck in Ni2+, Mn2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Cr2+ and Mg2+. The sensitivity of Hg2+
Germany. The majority of chemical reagents were of the pro-analysis ions was also analyzed by adding Hg2+ ion concentrations from 0,5 μM
variety and were utilized directly. to 4.5 μM. the changes in the fluorescence intensity recorded in the
fluorescence experiment were measured under the same conditions
2.2. Jengkol peels extract including room temperature, in each experiment, a 1:1 solution ratio
was used (not only for N-CDs to interact with different metal ions, but
During the experiment, jengkol peels were cleansed with tap water, also for N-CDs to interact with different amounts Hg2+) and before the
distilled water using tap water, and oven-dried at 60 ◦ C. The dried peels 370 nm fluorescence measurement was taken, each mix was given a
were subsequently crushed into powder by pulverisation. Powdered gentle stir for 15 min.
peels were extracted with organic solvents (ethanol 97%) with an in­ To evaluate the detection Hg2+ sensitivity in a real-life scenario.
crease of polarity at a 1: 10 (w/v). The extractions were performed by Cosmetics (Toner) and tap water samples were selected. All samples
maceration for the extract simplicial containing chemical components were filtered and centrifuged at 5500 rpm for 15 min. Each resulting

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A.S. Prayugo et al. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

Fig. 1. The method used to the preparation N-CDs from jengkol peels.

supernatant were spiked with Hg2+ ions at various concentration levels obtained (inset of Fig. 2a and b), which is the distance between the
and stirred for 10 min. Then, using the general procedure, followed by carbon layers (100) of graphene (Z. Wang et al., 2020). These results
analysis using the proposed method. indicate that both samples consist of amorphous and crystalline parts
composed of carbon sp2 graphite.
3. Results and discussion The functional groups present on CDs and N-CDs are shown in Fig. 3.
All samples have a wide peak at 3291 cm− 1 associated with OH
3.1. Characterization of carbon dots (CDs) and nitrogen-doped carbon stretching vibration (Liu et al., 2023), a peak at 2938 cm− 1 – 2835 cm− 1
dots (N- CDs)

The morphology and size distribution of the CDs and N-CDs were
analyzed using HR-TEM which is seen in Fig. 2. The HR-TEM of the CDs
shown in Fig. 2 (a,c) exhibit a spherical (dot), small, monodisperse shape
without aggregates and having a size distribution of 1–8 nm. From the
results of calculating the average sizes of CDs particles from jengkol
peels using the image j application is 3,927 nm. Previous research also
obtained carbon dots particle diameter of 5.0 nm from biomass (Pang
et al., 2022), this proves that jengkol peels biomass can be a source of
carbon dots precursors that has a particle size distribution less than 10
nm.
whereas HR-TEM of N-CDs Fig. 2 (b,d) shows a spherical, small,
monodispersed CDs without any aggregation with size distribution
(average size 4.495 nm). This shows that the addition of N Dopants can
increase the particle size, and the two samples are consistent with the
size distribution of nanoscale CDs that have been obtained in the liter­
ature (Torres Landa et al., 2022), and from the results of calculations
Fig. 3. FTIR spectrum of CDs and N-CDs.
using image J software, the lattice spacing of 0.24 nm CDs and N-CDs is

Fig. 2. HR-TEM morphology and lattice spacing of CDs (a) and N-CDs (b), Particle size distribution of CDs (c) and N-CDs (d).

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A.S. Prayugo et al. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

Fig. 4. XPS spectra high-resolution C1s of (a) CDs, (b) N-CDs, (c) XPS spectra high-resolution N1s of N-CDs and (d) XPS spectrum of the CDs and N-CDs samples.

belongs to C–H stretching vibration (Zhou et al., 2022), the C– – O bond and O–C–O bonds on their surfaces. This gives the N- CDs good water
may also be present due to the presence of the absorption peak 1646 solubility for different uses.
cm− 1 (Zhou et al., 2023), while the peak of 1445 is caused by the C– –C
stretching vibration in the aromatic ring structure (Deng et al., 2018), 3.2. Optical properties of carbon dots (CDs) and nitrogen-doped carbon
and the sharp peak at 1025 cm− 1 that is largely associated to the C–O–C dots (N- CDs)
stretching vibrations (Tony Elizabeth et al., 2023) is characteristic of
CDs formation. N-CDs is the only sample that has N–H, C–N, and C– –N The optical absorption characteristics of CDs and N-CDs were eval­
bondings present in the spectra at absorption peaks of 3286 cm− 1 (Liu uated through the UV–Visible and PL spectra which can be seen in Fig. 5.
et al., 2023), 1304 cm− 1 (Yinghui et al., 2022), and 1608 cm− 1 (Zhou The inset in Fig. 5a shows that the as-synthesized CDs and N-CDs have
et al., 2022), respectively. Which proves that the Heteroatom N is suc­ high dispersion in aqueous solution and emit intense bluish-green
cessfully doped in the carbon dot structure. The existence of oxygenated fluorescence when exposed to a UV light with a wavelength of 365
functional groups causes CDs and N-CDs to exhibit hydrophilicity that nm. Clearly, as seen in Fig. 5a, there is a UV–Visible spectra of CDs and
can increase their affinity to water. Therefore, it can be concluded that N-CDs have absorbance peaks at 286 nm and 284 nm, respectively,
CDs and N-CDs have a polyaromatic structure because they contain which are (Qi et al., 2019) ascribed to the π-π* transition for the ring
carboxyl, hydroxyl, and N-CDs only sample that has amines. aromatic C– – C bond in the carbon core, and the absorbance at 397 nm is
Elemental composition and chemical structure analysis was further attributed to the transition n-π* (Kan et al., 2019) taking place between
characterized using the XPS instrument. Fig. 4 shows that the CDs and N- the C–– O and C–– N groups that collect on the surface and is only present
CDs have little differences for the high-resolution spectra of C1s con­ on N-CDs. The change in the absorbance intensities and profile in N-CDs
sisting of three peaks, including binding energy (BE) of 284.4 eV asso­ is hypothesized to be due to changes in the energy levels of the carbon
ciated with C– – C, the chemical bond originating from sp2 C– – O is at dots after and before doped.
binding energy (BE) 288.9 eV and sp3 C–O appeared at 286.6 eV (Qi The PL spectra (Fig. 5b) explained that the PL intensities of all CDs
et al., 2019). The C–– C bond signal proves that both samples have gone and N-CDs samples showed maximum emission peaks at 497 nm and
through the carbonization process. For the high-resolution spectrum of 522 nm. It can be seen in the PL N-CDs spectrum that the addition of
N1s found only on N-CDs exhibiting three distinct peaks at binding en­ nitrogen dopants to the carbon dots causes a red shift. The resulting PL
ergies of 398.5 eV, 399.1 eV, and 400.2 eV, respectively, these three intensity of N-CDs(Fig. 5b) is much higher than that of CDs, which is
groups are called pyridinic N; amine and pyrrolic N which are suspected thought to be the result of nitrogen doping which forms defects in the N-
from the C– – N aromatic group of N-CDs (Kan et al., 2019). Moreover, the CDs structure. This suppresses the number of O-states on the N-CDs
configurations of C–N in CDs can significantly influence the PL intensity surface and facilitates better radiative electron hole recombination so
due to the effect of delocalized electrons from pyridinic N. Those results that the resulting PL intensity increases. Fig. 5c and d shows a fluores­
showed that the N- CDs have hydrophilic groups like OH, COOH, NH2, cence spectrum at various excitation wavelengths, and it can be shown

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A.S. Prayugo et al. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

Fig. 5. (a) UV–Vis absorption spectrum of CDs and N-CDs, (b) The fluorescence spectra of CDs and N-CDs, (c) CDs, and (d) N-CDs that are excited (λex) with different
wavelengths.

that CDs and N- CDs has a specific excitation - optimum dependency and N-CDs. Thus demonstrating the selectivity that N-CDs have towards
excitation wavelength 370 nm. where most of the particles are excited Hg2+ ions. This may be due to the presence of Hg2+ ions in solution
and the PL intensity of N-CDs turns out to be the highest. This is due to quenched the fluorescence intensity (F0/F) of N-CDs at an excitation
the presence of different functional groups on the surface of the CDs, wavelength of 370 nm. According to Xu nitrogen-doped carbon dots
there may be a series of emissive traps between π-π* from C–– C (Molaei, contain functional groups that are sensitive to Hg2+ ions such as –OH,
2019) and has been observed to increase the quantum yield (Yan et al., –NH2, and COOH on the surface, that have high affinity to the d-orbitals
2019) in N-CDs (42%) while CDs (24%). Because of the high fluores­ belonging to Hg2+ ions, which would lead to the formation of non-
cence intensity and resultant quantum yield, N-CDs can be employed as fluorescent complexes (Xu et al., 2021b). Metal ions evaluated may
a fluorescence probe to detect heavy metal ions. participate in limiting the fluorescence quenching due to their interac­
tion with electron donor groups present on carbon dots (Zhang et al.,
3.3. Selectivity and sensitivity of N-CDs for Hg2+ detection 2018).
The sensitivity of the ability of N-CDs to detect Hg2+ ions was also
Highly fluorescence and great stability were seen in the NCDs that evaluated. The fluorescence intensity decreased in a linear fashion with
were produced. The high N-CDs fluorescence emission is caused by increasing Hg2+ ion concentration in 0.5 μM–4.5 μM as shown in Fig. 6
surface conditions associated with functional groups and surface (c,d) N-CDs is shown to be capable of Hg2+ ions at the limit of detection
oxidation. If the level of surface oxidation increased, the surface defect (LOD) of 0.03 μM with R2~ 0.99. In order to check the stability of N-CDs,
would intensify significantly. When nitrogen with functional groups is the storage time on the fluorescence property of N-CDs was investigated,
added to the surface, defect sites may result. Due of the excitons’ radi­ the results showed the CDs solution remained in a homogeneous phase
ative recombination, these defect sites caused trapped fluorescence for 60 days, this indicated the long-term stability of the synthesized N-
emission. Fluorescence property was utilized to evaluate the ability of N- CDs.
CDs to detect Hg2+ metal ions. Fig. 6 shows the variation in fluorescence This study resulted in a lower detection limit than the previous
intensity of different heavy metal ions used in the N-CDs selectivity test, carbon dots fluorescence sensors, which are detailed in Table 1.
including Ni2+, Mn2+, Hg2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Pb2+, Zn2+, Fe2+ and Cu2+ at a Furthermore, it shows that N-CDs are extremely sensitive to the presence
concentration of 100 μM. Hg2+ ions showed the lowest fluorescence of Hg2+ ions and better than other semiconductor quantum dots even
intensity while adding Ni2+, Mn2+, Hg2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Pb2+, Zn2+, Fe2+ other organic dyes in detecting metallic Hg2+ ions because in addition to
and Cu2+ ions had no significant effect on the fluorescence intensity of using non-toxic biomass as a carbon source, primary amines are also

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A.S. Prayugo et al. Biosensors and Bioelectronics: X 14 (2023) 100363

Fig. 6. (a) Fluorescence changes as a result of the addition of various heavy metal ions, (b) Storage time, (c) Spectrum of decreasing N-CDs fluorescence intensity
based on adding Hg2+, and (d) Linearity graph between the level of Hg2+ and the intensity of N-CDs fluorescence.

CDs solution, and the PL intensity was recorded. The results revealed
Table 1
that Hg2+ ions recovery in the sample was around 92–95% with relative
Comparison of the proposed study in comparison to previously reported Hg2+
standard deviations (RSD, n = 3) less than 3.5%, while the concentration
ions and detection methods in the literature.
of tap water (1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 μM) was added to the N-CDs solution, and
Object of Method of Linear range LOD Reference the PL intensity was recorded. The results revealed a recovery of Hg2+
Detection Detection (μM) (μM)
ions in the sample of about 98.57–106.67% (RSD, less than 2.5%). The
Hg2+ Natural Phenol 0.25-8 0.10 Zhang et al. results of the research (Table 2) show that N-CDs are suitable for
derivates (2018)
detecting Hg2+ ions using the fluorescence technique, which can be
Rhodamine B 0.11-200 0.11 Kan et al.
(2019) applied in various environments.
AuNPs 0.2-20 0.06 (Liu et al.,
2018) 4. Conclusion
M-CDs 0-1.0 0.05 Li et al. (2020)
N-CDs 0-200 0.96 ( Xu et al.,
2021a)
The Highly fluorescent N-CDs were successfully synthesized from
N-CDs 20-150 0.12 (Liu et al., jengkol peels band ethylenediamine by solvothermal method. The
2022) resulting N-CDs emit bluish-green fluorescence with a QY value of 42%.
B–N-CDs 0-150 2.50 Meng et al. In addition, N-CDs are spherical and agglomerated with an average size
(2022)
of 4.495 nm and a lattice spacing of 0.24 nm. N-CDs contain poly aro­
N-CDs 0.5-4.5 0.03 This work
matic groups which were confirmed from FTIR analysis and The XPS
spectrum includes C–N–C (399.16 eV), N–H (400.2 eV), and C– –N
employed as nitrogen sources. Based on their chemical structure, sec­
ondary and tertiary amines are thought to be able to lower the density of
the electron cloud on the benzene ring, making them more difficult to Table 2
Hg2+ ions analysis in actual samples.
quench N- CDs than primary amines.
Samples Spiked (μM) Detected (μM) Recovery (%) RSD (%, n = 3)

Cosmetic 1 0.93 93 1.06

3.4. Real sample test 2 1.90 95 1.38
3 2.76 92 1.09
The observation of the performance of N-CDs was applied to Tap water 1.50 1.60 106.67 2.23
cosmetic samples (toner) and tap water. It is known that the concen­ 2.50 2.48 99.20 1.02
3.50 3.45 98.57 1.01
tration of Hg2+ ions in each cosmetic (1, 2 and 3 μM) was added to the N-

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(398.5 eV) peaks. Based on its excellent water solubility and The high Liu, J., Li, R., Yang, B., 2020. Carbon dots: a new type of carbon-based nanomaterial with
wide applications. ACS Cent. Sci. 6 (12), 2179–2195.
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Liu, K., Xia, C., Guo, Y., Yu, H., Xie, Y., Yao, W., Xia, C., Guo, Y., Yu, H., Xie, Y., Yao, W.,
ions from N-CDs. The fluorescence intensity of N-CDs decreased signif­ 2023. Polyethylenimine-functionalized nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon dots as
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CRediT authorship contribution statement Liu, Yinghui, Yong, C., Tong, B., Li, Y., Wang, N., Lei, Y., 2022. Modification of carbon
dots derived from biomass by exogenous nitrogen doping: action mechanism and
Aniza Salviana Prayugo: Writing – original draft, Editing. Mar­ difference analysis. Opt. Mater. 134 (10).
Liu, Yongli, Zhou, P., Wu, Y., Su, X., Liu, H., Zhu, G., Zhou, Q., 2022. Fast and efficient
pongahtun: Investigation, Conceptualization. Saharman Gea: Investi­
“on- off-on” fluorescent sensor from N-doped carbon dots for detection of mercury
gation, Methodology. Amru Daulay: Review, Investigation. Mahyuni and iodine ions in environmental water. Sci. Total Environ. 827, 154357.
Harahap: Visualization. Jonathan Siow: Data curation. Ronn Goei: Marpongahtun, Andriayani, Muis, Y., Gea, S., Amaturrahim, S.A., Attaurrazaq, B.,
Data curation, Validation. Alfred Iing Yoong Tok: Data curation. Daulay, A., 2023. Synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon dots from nanocrystalline
cellulose by pyrolysis method as Hg2+ detector. Int. J. Technol. 14 (1), 219–231.
Meng, A., Zhang, Y., Wang, X., Xu, Q., Li, Z., Sheng, L., Yan, L., 2022. Fluorescence probe
based on boron-doped carbon quantum dots for high selectivity “on-off-on” mercury
Declaration of competing interest ion sensing and cell imaging. Colloids Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Asp. 648, 129150.
Molaei, M.J., 2019. A review on nanostructured carbon quantum dots and their
applications in biotechnology, sensors, and chemiluminescence. Talanta 196,
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
456–478.
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence Nadira Hurairah, S., Mohamad Fahimi, N.S., Abdul Halim, A., Mohd Hanafiah, M.,
the work reported in this paper. Nordin, N., Ain Ab Jalil, N., Daud, Z., 2023. Archidendron jiringa seed peel extract in
the removal of lead from synthetic residual water using coagulation-flocculation
process. Sci. Asia 49 (1), 94.
Data availability Pang, Z., Fu, Y., Yu, H., Liu, S., Yu, S., Liu, Y., Wu, Q., Liu, Y., Nie, G., Xu, H., Nie, S.,
Yao, S., 2022. Efficient ethanol solvothermal synthesis of high-performance
Data will be made available on request. nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots from lignin for metal ion nanosensing and cell
imaging. Ind. Crop. Prod. 183, 114957.
Pramudita, R., Marpongahtun, Gea, S., Daulay, A., Harahap, M., Tan, Y.Z., Goei, R.,
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