Cadmium is a notorious toxic heavy metal, that poses serious threat to human health. Sensitive and selective detection of cadmium in cells is of great significance in poison screening and disease diagnosis. Orange–red emissive carbon dots (OR-CDs), prepared from the calcination of selected carbon sources 5-amino-1, 10-phenanthroline (Aphen) and salicylic acid (SA), were found to act as a “turn on” type fluorescence probe for Cd²⁺ detection. The structure and optical properties of OR-CDs were comprehensively investigated by both experimental characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The OR-CDs consist of a basic unit of nine aromatic rings, and the N/O binding sites on the OR-CDs can specifically bind with Cd²⁺, leading to aggregation induced enhanced emission (AIEE). A detection limit of 0.30 μM was achieved for Cd²⁺ with a linear range of 0.80–100 μM. OR-CDs can not only be used for intracellular Cd²⁺ imaging but also have the potential to alleviate cadmium poison in living organisms.

镉是一种臭名昭著的有毒重金属，对人体健康构成严重威胁。细胞中镉的灵敏选择性检测对毒物筛查和疾病诊断具有重要意义。橙红色发射碳点 (OR-CDs)，由选定的碳源 5-氨基-1、10-菲咯啉 (Aphen) 和水杨酸 (SA) 的煅烧制成，被发现充当“开启”类型用于 Cd ²⁺检测的荧光探针。通过实验表征和密度泛函理论 (DFT) 计算全面研究了 OR-CD 的结构和光学性质。OR-CDs由9个芳香环的基本单元组成，OR-CDs上的N/O结合位点可以与Cd ^{2+特异性结合}，导致聚集诱导增强发射（AIEE）。^{Cd 2+}的检测限为 0.30 μM，线性范围为 0.80–100 μM。OR-CDs不仅可以用于细胞内Cd ²⁺成像，而且还具有减轻生物体内镉毒的潜力。