Chemiluminescent carbon nanodots as sensors for hydrogen peroxide and glucose

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an important product generated in the body and related to many pathophysiological processes and glucose metabolism disorder can cause many fatal diseases in living bodies. Therefore, the sensing of H2O2 and glucose is of great significance in disease diagnostics and treatment. Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) are one new class of nanoprobes for H2O2 and glucose. Nevertheless, the CD-based sensor is always based on its fluorescence response, which is influenced by the auto-fluorescent interference. Herein, efficient fluorescent CDs were synthesized by one-pot solvothermal method, and the CDs exhibit bright and persistent deep-red (DR) chemiluminescence (CL) in bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate and H2O2 solution with a CL quantum yield of (8.22 ± 0.30) × 10−3, which is amongst the highest values in ever reported nanomaterials for chemical analysis. Employing the CDs as CL nanoprobes, sensitive sensing for H2O2 has been achieved with a detection limit of 11.7 μM, and further for glucose detection with a detection limit of 12.6 μM. The DR CL CDs is promising to be applied in blood glucose analysis or in vivo biosensor.