Acetic acid derived carbon dots as efficient pH and bio-molecule sensor

Greenish yellow emitting carbon dots are prepared from acetic acid through a one pot synthesis. The dots are characterised using TEM, XRD, FTIR, UV–visible absorbance spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and Raman spectral analysis. The system could continuously monitor the pH as a function of luminescence over a wide range (2–12), and exhibited linear dependence of luminescence with the former parameter. In addition, the fluorescence of the system is also exploited for the sensing of one of the significant bio-molecule, folic acid with a detection limit of 0.72 µM.