Nanoarchitectonics of Melia Dubia flowers to fluorescent carbon dots and its Ferritin sensing

In this study, the Melia Dubia flowers was utilized as a precursor for the synthesis of fluorescent carbon nanomaterial by hydrothermal method. As synthesized carbon nanomaterial have been extensively characterized and demonstrated notable characteristics, including a particle size ranging from 10 to 20 nm and excitation dependent fluorescence. Intriguingly, the carbon nanomaterial exhibited remarkable sensitivity, as demonstrated by detection limit of 23 nM for Fe3+ ions. By taking advantage of time-resolved fluorescence quenching experiments, we have satisfactorily elucidated the sensing process. The observation of a decrease in fluorescence decay in the presence of Fe3+ provides direct evidence and substantiates the occurrence of an electron transfer quenching mechanism. In addition, the selectivity of CDs has been used to detect Fe3+ in ferritin (non-heme metalloprotein). The current investigation demonstrates that Melia Dubia flowers can be utilized to develop inexpensive CDs that could serve as a fluorescent probe for the sensitive and selective detection of Fe3+ ions and Ferritin.