High-Efficiency Utilization of Waste Tobacco Stems to Synthesize Novel Biomass-Based Carbon Dots for Precise Detection of Tetracycline Antibiotic Residues

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 12; no. 18; p. 3241
• Main Authors: Yang, Hui, Wei, Yunlong, Yan, Xiufang, Nie, Chao, Sun, Zhenchun, Hao, Likai, Su, Xiankun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.09.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibiotics; Biomass; biomass-based C−dots; Black carbon; Carbon; Carbon black; Carbon dots; China; Chloride; Cost analysis; Emission; Emissions; environmental pollution traceability analysis; Fluorescence; Food safety; Fourier transforms; Germany; inner filter effect; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Nitrates; Oxytetracycline; pH effects; Recycling (Waste, etc.); Scientific imaging; Stems; Sustainable development; Synthesis; tetracycline antibiotics; Tobacco; waste tobacco stems; Waste utilization; Water analysis; Water sampling; China; Germany; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano12183241

Recycling waste biomass into valuable products (e.g., nanomaterials) is of considerable theoretical and practical significance to achieve future sustainable development. Here, we propose a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis route to convert waste tobacco stems into biomass-based N, S-codoped carbon dots (C−dots) with the assistance of carbon black. Unlike most of the previously reported luminescent C−dots, these biomass-based C−dots showed a satisfactory stability, as well as an excitation-independent fluorescence emission at ~520 nm. Furthermore, they demonstrated a pH-dependent fluorescence emission ability, offering a scaffold to design pH-responsive assays. Moreover, these as-synthesized biomass-based C−dots exhibited a fluorescence response ability toward tetracycline antibiotics (TCs, e.g., TC, CTC, and OTC) through the inner filter effect (IFE), thereby allowing for the establishment a smart analytical platform to sensitively and selectively monitor residual TCs in real environmental water samples. In this study, we explored the conversion of waste tobacco stems into sustainable biomass-based C−dots to develop simple, efficient, label-free, reliable, low-cost, and eco-friendly analytical platforms for environmental pollution traceability analysis, which might provide a novel insight to resolve the ecological and environmental issues derived from waste tobacco stems.