Highly green fluorescent Nb2C MXene quantum dots for Cu2+ ion sensing and cell imaging

Abstract Niobium carbide MXene quantum dots (Nb2C MQDs) derived from 2D Nb2CTx (MXene) are the rising-star material recently. Herein, a sulfur and nitrogen co-doped Nb2C MQDs (S, N-Nb2C MQDs) were synthesized through a hydrothermal method. The obtained Nb2C MQDs have excellent green fluorescence with a quantum yield (QY) of 17.25%. In addition, they exhibited excitation-dependent photoluminescence, anti-photobleaching and dispersion stability. They emit light at 520 nm when excited at 390 nm. The Nb2C MQDs could be successfully applied to copper ion detection with detection limit of 2 μmol/L and Caco-2 cells imaging.