Carbon dots derived from algae as H2O2 sensors: the importance of nutrients in biomass

Abstract

Carbon dots produced hydrothermally from algae were used directly for H2O2 sensing. The mineral nutrients in biomass were found be important for the composition, crystallinity, dispersion and photoluminescence (PL) quenching of the carbon dots under reactive oxygen species, which catalysed the oxidation of passivating ligands.