One-pot fabrication of hollow cross-linked fluorescent carbon nitride nanoparticles and their application in the detection of mercuric ions

•A facile one-pot method was used to prepare carbon nitride nanoparticles (CNNPs).•The CNNPs had a hollow cross-linked morphology.•The CNNPs exhibited an uncommon excitation-dependent fluorescence emission feature.•The quantum yield of the obtained CNNPs could reach 31%.•The CNNPs were applied to the detection of mercuric ions.

Hollow cross-linked fluorescent carbon nitride nanoparticles (CNNPs) were fabricated via a facile one-pot solvothermal process. The obtained CNNPs were characterized by multiple analytical techniques including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The excitation-dependent fluorescence emission spectra showed significant differences for the CNNPs derived from various proportions of citric acid monohydrate and urea. The fluorescence quantum yield of the obtained CNNPs could reach 31%. The CNNPs exhibited good fluorescence quenching selectivity to mercuric ions. Concentration experiments showed that there existed two parts of linear relationship between fluorescence intensity and concentration of Hg2+ ions in the range of 0.1–8 and 8–32 μM. The limit of detection (LOD) was estimated to be 0.094 μM. This method can be applied to the detection of Hg2+ ions in tap water samples.

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