Cadmium induced aggregation of orange–red emissive carbon dots with enhanced fluorescence for intracellular imaging

Cadmium is a notorious toxic heavy metal, that poses serious threat to human health. Sensitive and selective detection of cadmium in cells is of great significance in poison screening and disease diagnosis. Orange-red emissive carbon dots (OR-CDs), prepared from the calcination of selected carbon sources 5-amino-1, 10-phenanthroline (Aphen) and salicylic acid (SA), were found to act as a "turn on" type fluorescence probe for Cd2+ detection. The structure and optical properties of OR-CDs were comprehensively investigated by both experimental characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The OR-CDs consist of a basic unit of nine aromatic rings, and the N/O binding sites on the OR-CDs can specifically bind with Cd2+, leading to aggregation induced enhanced emission (AIEE). A detection limit of 0.30 μM was achieved for Cd2+ with a linear range of 0.80-100 μM. OR-CDs can not only be used for intracellular Cd2+ imaging but also have the potential to alleviate cadmium poison in living organisms.