Hydrothermal synthesis of blue-emitting silicon quantum dots for fluorescent detection of hypochlorite in tap water

Abstract

A facile, sensitive and selective method for the fluorescent detection of hypochlorite in tap water has been developed by utilization of blue-emissive silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) with a quantum yield of 10.6%. The SiQDs are prepared via a simple hydrothermal treatment of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane and sodium citrate, and they display excellent stability in high salt conditions. The proposed preparation method for SiQDs does not require complicated synthesis and does not need the protection of an inert gas. It is attractive that the as-prepared SiQDs can be utilized to detect hypochlorite in tap water with relatively good selectivity and sensitivity, and as low as 0.01 μM hypochlorite could be successfully determined.