Selective recognition of Fe3+ and Cr3+ in aqueous medium via fluorescence quenching of graphene quantum dots.

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have been prepared from graphene oxide (GO) and characterized by standard analytical techniques. The size of the prepared GQDs ranges from 2-10 nm. Aqueous dispersion of GQDs exhibited excitation-dependent emission behavior. Emission intensity of the aqueous dispersion found stable for the examined duration of about four months. GQDs exhibited selective recognition of Fe3+ and Cr3+ out of various common ions such as alkali, alkaline-earth and transition metal ions in aqueous medium through fluorescence quenching. The lower limit of detection of Fe3+ is 1 μM and that of Cr3+ is 4 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]