One-pot synthesis of fluorescent nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots for portable detection of iron ion

Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQD) were synthesized by direct thermal decomposition of ammonium citrate tribasic. With the increment of torrefaction temperature, the average size of N-GQD was increased from 2.56 to 3.73 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis (XPS) proved the successful doping of nitrogen atoms. Besides, the N-GQDs showed blue fluorescence which was quenched by Fe³⁺ ions, and the fluorescence intensity of N-GQDs decayed exponentially. Accordingly, the same quenching effect was observed on a test paper prepared by soaking paper in N-GQDs dispersion. The quenching mechanism was due to electron transfer between Fe³⁺ and functional groups on the surface of N-GQDs which could be confirmed by XPS and diameter growth. Therefore, through this simple method, N-GQDs with high blue fluorescence and high production yield (64%) can be prepared, which provided a new strategy for monitoring and collecting Fe³⁺ in environmental water.