Characterization of food waste-driven carbon dot focusing on chemical structural, electron relaxation behavior and Fe(3+) selective sensing

In the study, carbon dot (CD) with high fluorescence properties was obtained via one-step hydrothermal carbonization of food model and sandwich leftover, respectively. The data in the article represent the change of the chemical structure and PL properties of the food waste-driven carbon dot (FWCDs). In higher carbonization temperature, pyridinic N and graphitic N were increased while amino N and pyrrolic N was decreased. The lifetime was increased with the increase of temperature. The CD prepared from sandwich leftover showed the dependency of the emission on the exciting wavelength and excellent Fe(3+) sensitivity without significant change of lifetime. It also had a pH-sensitive fluorescence feature and good stability in NaCl solutions. For more insight, please see Food waste-driven N-doped carbon dots: Applications for Fe(3+) sensing and cell imaging Ahn et al., 2019.