Molten salt synthesis of water-dispersible polymeric carbon nitride nanoseaweeds and their application as luminescent probes

A molten salt method has been developed for the synthesis of polymeric carbon nitride nanoseaweeds (CNNSs) using melamine and NaCl/KCl as precursor and eutectic salts, respectively. The resulting CNNSs present uniform shape which are about 20 nm wide and several hundred nanometers long. Moreover, they show excellent water dispersibility and enhanced photoluminescence properties, which make the CNNSs possess the potential as luminescent probes. Employed tetracycline (TC) as target, we have investigated the feasibility of utilizing the CNNSs for TC detection and the results demonstrate high selectivity and sensitivity, with detection limit of 0.04 μM. Interestingly, this work provides a general method to synthesize CNNSs from other precursors, such as guanidine hydrochloride and dicyandiamide.