Yellow-emissive carbon dots for “off-and-on” fluorescent detection of progesterone

Progesterone is one of the most essential elements for women, and it is of great significance to develop new methods to detect progesterone levels. In this work, we explored a novel fluorescent probe to detect progesterone by using carbon dots based on the quenching and recovery (“off and on”) mechanism. The carbon dots prepared via a simple one-step hydrothermal method exhibit bright yellow light and are rapidly quenched by hydrogen peroxide, and when the progesterone is continuously added, the fluorescence of the carbon dots recovers.