Influence of doping Crassostrea virginica seashell on the size stability of Carbon quantum dots for tunable fluorescence and metal sensing

Abstract

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have attracted a lot of attention because of their excellent optical properties for various types of applications. In today’s context, there is a growing demand for a simple, economical and energy-efficient process for preparing CQDs. The present study explored simple and non-toxic Microwave-assisted preparation of Calcium-doped CQDs (Ca-CQDs) using urea, Citrus limon extract and Crassostrea virginica seashell as precursors. To study the influence of Calcium in the structure-activity relationship of CQDs and their emission (fluorescence) properties with respect to microstructure, surface morphology and elemental composition were compared and confirmed by the analytical tools. The current study focuses on tapping the antioxidant activity of CQDs and Ca-CQDs. The well-defined emission properties of CQDs and Ca-CQDs further encouraged the investigation of their role in sensing Pb(II) ions. The results confirmed that both the prepared samples did not exhibit toxicity. The results of the research study ultimately provided valuable inputs in tuning the emission property of prepared CQDs and Ca-CQDs to further explore for bioimaging of healthy and cancer cells.