Aminoboronic acid-functionalized graphitic carbon nitride quantum dots for the photoluminescence multi-chemical sensing probe

This paper reports a highly sensitive photoluminescence glucose sensor based on aminoboronic acid-functionalized carbon nitride quantum dots (g-CNQDs/3APBA) fabricated using melamine and 3-aminophenylboronic acid via a facile two-step synthesis process. By introducing the covalent bonds between g-CNQDs and boronic acid groups, it can be effectively used as on-off-on based multi-chemical sensor. The g-CNQDs/3APBA exhibited quantum yields (QYs) as high as 78.5%, which is the highest QYs among fluorescence sensors based on g-CNQDs reported thus far. The material showed a wide linear range of 0-10 mM and a detection limit as low as 42 nM with excellent selectivity. In addition, it exhibited comparable performance compared to those of a commercial glucometer in a real blood test. Owing to the excellent bio-imaging properties and low cytotoxicity, g-CNQDs/3APBA is a promising candidate as a sensing material for biomedical and clinical applications.