Strong enhancement of the chemiluminescence of the Cu(II)-HO system on addition of carbon nitride quantum dots, and its application to the detection of HO and glucose.

The authors report that carbon nitride quantum dots (CN QDs) exert a strong enhancing effect on the Cu(II)/HO chemiluminescent system. Chemiluminescence (CL) intensity is enhanced by CN QDs by a factor of ~75, while other carbon nanomaterials have a much weaker effect. The possible mechanism of the effect was evaluated by recording fluorescence and CL spectra and by examining the effect of various radical scavengers. Emitting species was found to be excited-state CN QDs that produce green CL peaking at 515 nm. The new CL system was applied to the sensitive detection of HO and glucose (via glucose oxidase-catalyzed formation of HO) with detection limits (3σ) of 10 nM for HO and 100 nM for glucose. The probe was employed for glucose determination in human plasma samples with satisfactory results. Graphical abstract The effect of carbon nitride quantum dots (CN QDs) on Cu(II)-HO chemiluminescence reaction was studied and the new CL system was applied for sensitive detection of glucose based on the glucose oxidase (GOx)-catalyzed formation of HO.