The valine‐based N‐doped carbon dots with high peroxidase‐like activity

Abstract Developing artificial nanoparticles with peroxidase‐like activity have attracted great interests because their catalytic activity is not easy to lose under harsh conditions compared with natural enzymes. In this work, the N‐doped carbon dots (CDs) were prepared; it was found that the N‐doped CDs showed high peroxidase‐like catalytic activity towards the reaction system of hydrogen peroxide:3,3′,5,5′‐tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). The catalytic mechanism of the N‐doped CDs was explored using electron spin resonance spectra, cyclic voltammetry methods and simulation of density functional theory calculations. This work can offer a new feasible method for synthesizing N‐doped carbon quantum dots used as artificial peroxidases in biological and environment applications.