Microwave-assisted facile synthesis of N, P co-doped fluorescent carbon dot probe for the determination of nifedipine.

A simple and fast microwave synthesis method was applied for the preparation of several carbon dots (CDs) from various combinations of urea, phosphoric acid, and B-alanine as nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon precursors. The maximum quantum yield (44%) was obtained for nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped carbon dots (N, P-CDs) prepared from urea, B-alanine, and phosphoric acid. Furthermore, N, P-CDs were exploited to synthesize a simple and sensitive fluorometric probe to determine nifedipine (NFD). We determined that the analytical response of the designed sensor could be affected by the kind of dopant and synthesis precursors. It is worth mentioning that the fluorescence intensity of N, P-CDs was weakened by NFD, and no fluorescence quenching was observed for other prepared CDs. The NFD-developed sensor demonstrated a linear response range of 3.3 × 10-3.2 × 10 mol/L, with the detection limit of 1.0 × 10 mol/L. The sensor was successfully applied to measure NFD in human biological fluids.