Lignin-derived dual-function red light carbon dots for hypochlorite detection and anti-counterfeiting

Abstract

The efficient utilization of natural lignin, which is the main by-product of the cellulose industry, is crucial for enhancing its economic value, alleviating the environmental burden, and improving ecological security. By taking advantage of the large sp² hybrid domain of lignin and introducing amino functional groups, new lignin-derived carbon dots (SPN-CDs) with red fluorescence were successfully synthesized. Compared with green and blue fluorescent materials, red SPN-CDs have desirable anti-interference properties of short-wave background and exhibit superior luminescence stability. The SPN-CDs obtained exhibited sensitive and distinctive visible color with fluorescence-dual responses toward hypochlorite. Considering this feature, a portable, low-cost, and sensitive fluorescence sensing paper with a low limit of detection of 0.249 μmol∙L^–1 was fabricated using the SPN-CDs for hypochlorite detection. Furthermore, a new type of visible-light and fluorescence dual-channel information encryption platform was constructed. Low-concentration hypochlorite can be employed as an accessible and efficient information encryption/decryption stimulus, as well as an information “eraser”, facilitating a safe and diversified transmission and convenient decryption of information. This work opens new avenues for high-value-added applications of lignin-based fluorescent materials.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

alkali lignin / red light carbon dots / hypochlorite / encryption and anti-counterfeiting

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Acknowledgements

Yixuan Chang and Fanwei Kong contributed equally to the work. We are grateful for the financial support by the Undergraduate Training Programs for Innovations by NEFU (Grant No. 202110225105), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51903031), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 2572021CG05), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (Grant No. 2019QNRC001), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Grant Nos. 2022T150102, 2021M700735, 2019T120249, 2018M630331), Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Fund (Grant Nos. LBH-Z18010, LBH-TZ1001), the Key Program of the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (Grant No. ZD2021C001), the 111 Project (Grant No. B20088).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2244-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

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