Excessive ammonia can cause the death of fish and the eutrophication of the water environment, so ammonia detection is essential for environmental monitoring. In this study, a highly selective sensing strategy for ammonia detection based on N, S co-doped carbon dots (N, S-CDs) was developed. The as-prepared N, S-CDs exhibited excellent photoluminescence properties and fluorescent stability. N, S-CDs demonstrated fluorescence quenched in the presence of ammonia in the wide linear range of 2–80 mmol/L, and were highly selective towards ammonia over metal ions. Furthermore, a possible fluorescence quenching mechanism is proposed. N, S-CDs were further applied to detection of ammonia in aquaculture water samples and river water samples, showing good practicability with recoveries from 0.93 to 1.27 and relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 0.54% to 17.3%. N, S-CDs were also successfully used to determine the freshness of bighead carps.
Dramatic photoluminescence quenching in carbon dots induced by cyclic voltammetry