Orange peel-derived carbon dots/Cu-MOF nanohybrid for fluorescence determination of l-ascorbic acid and Fe3+

Recycling and reuse of biomass waste in the synthesis of nanomaterials have recently received much attention as an effective solution for environmental protection and sustainable development. Herein, nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) with blue emission were synthesized from the orange peel as a precursor through a simple hydrothermal method and then, modified with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (N-CD@EDTA). The N-CD@EDTA was embedded as a fluorophore in Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF-199) structure (N-CD@EDTA/MOF-199) to construct fluorescence sensor toward l-ascorbic acid (L-AA) determination. The N-CD@EDTA/MOF-199 nanohybrid significantly and selectively turned on toward L-AA determination during the fluorimetric experiments. Under optimal conditions, the probe showed a suitable linear response in the concentration range of 10 nM–100 μM with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 8.6 nM and high sensitivity of 0.2007 μM−1. The possible mechanism of recognition and adsorption, including the reduction of Cu +2 nodes in the MOF-199 structure in the presence of L-AA and the release of trapped N-CD@EDTA into the solution, was explored. Moreover, the N-CD@EDTA/MOF-199/L-AA (100 μM) system was further applied as a fluorescent “on–off” sensor for Fe+3 determination with a LOD of 1.15 μM. The proposed probe was successfully used in orange juice and water samples to detect L-AA and Fe+3 with satisfactory recovery, which displays the promising capability of sensor. The recoveries obtained by suggested method are consistent with that obtained from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and atomic adsorption techniques which confirm the favorable characteristic of the sensor for accurate determination of L-AA and Fe+3 in practical applications.