N, N-Dimethyl Formamide Regulating Fluorescence of MXene Quantum Dots for the Sensitive Determination of Fe3+

Due to the wide use of iron in all kinds of areas, the design and construction of direct, fast, and highly sensitive sensor for Fe3+ are highly desirable and important. In the present work, a kind of fluorescent MXene quantum dots (MQDs) was synthesized via an intermittent ultrasound process using N,N-dimethyl formamide as solvent. The prepared MQDs were characterized via a combination of UV-Vis absorption, fluorescence spectra, X-ray photoelectron energy spectra, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Based on the electrostatic-induced aggregation quenching mechanism, the fluorescent MQDs probes exhibited excellent sensing performance for the detection of Fe3+, with a sensitivity of 0.6377 mM-1 and the detection limit of 1.4 µM, superior to those reported in studies. The present MQDs-based probes demonstrate the potential promising applications as the sensing device of Fe3+.