A new composite material combining aluminum and nitrogen co-doped carbon dots (Al-N@CQDs) with glutathione-capped copper nanoclusters (GSH@CuNCs) was developed for detecting pyrophosphate anion (PO) using a ratiometric approach.
The composite exhibited dual-emission signals due to aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), allowing effective measurement of PO concentrations.
The detection range of the system was from 0.035 to 160 µM, with a remarkable limit of detection at 0.012 µM, and it was successfully tested on real samples like water, serum, and urine.