Green synthesis of sulfur- and nitrogen-co-doped carbon dots using ionic liquid as a precursor and their application in Hg2+ detection

A facile and environment-friendly method was developed to synthesize sulfur- and nitrogen-co-doped carbon dots (S/N-CDs) via one step hydrothermal treatment of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium 2-amino-3-mercaptopropionic acid salt ionic liquid and polyethylene glycol. It was found that the prepared S/N-CDs were nearly spherical nanoparticles. And then the size of the as-prepared S/N-CDs became smaller with the extension of reaction time, the amorphous carbon was gradually transformed into a crystal structure of carbon dots and a higher reaction temperature favors the formation of carbon dots with higher quantum yields. It was also found that sulfur atoms in the S/N-CDs change the surface structures of CDs to some extent. Higher quantum yield of the S/N-CDs should attribute to the synergistic effect of co-doped nitrogen and sulfur atoms. The S/N-CDs display stable and strong florescence, high water solubility, excitation-dependent emission behavior, particularly the up-conversion photoluminescence performance. Furthermore, the as-prepared S/N-CDs were used as a sensitive probe for Hg2+ detection in aqueous solutions, with high selectivity and sensitivity. Particularly, the detection limit could reach as low as 0.6 nM (S/N=3).