Turning waste into wealth: nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots derived from fruits wastes for sensing

Hydrothermal treatment of m -phenylenediamine and grape seed powder has been adopted to synthesize nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dots (N-CQDs). The prepared N-CQDs possessed outstanding optical properties and high quantum yield. Based on the combined effect of static quenching effect and inner filter effect of permanganate (MnO 4 − ) to N-CQDs and the redox reaction that occurred between MnO 4 − and l -ascorbic acid ( l -AA), an ‘off–on’ fluorescence strategy with N-CQDs has been proposed for the detection of MnO 4 − and l -AA. The proposed fluorescent probe was fast, sensitive and selective to MnO 4 − and l -AA under mild conditions. In addition, the satisfactory results of the proposed strategy for the detection of MnO 4 − and l -AA in real samples indicated its practicability.