Thermal coupling between citric acid and Na-salt of glycine, l-valine and l-isolucine produced blue emitting carbon dots (CDs) and in presence of NaH2PO4, produced green emitting phosphorous doped CDs (PCDs), which were utilized for cell imaging.
A simple cost effective isolation method has been described for the extraction of surface-adhered blue–green fluorescent carbon material from the diesel soot and used them for the selective sensing of Fe(iii) and toxic Hg(ii) metal ions in aqueous medium.