Orange carbon dot nanomaterial as optical/visual sensing platforms for morin and a biomass booster for plant seedlings

The precise regulation of morin levels in both diet and medicine is essential to evaluate the nutritional quality of food. Furthermore, plant yield is attracting considerable attention in the agricultural and herbal industries. Accordingly, the sensing platforms based on orange S and N co-doped carbon dots (SNCDs) were developed to detect morin through photoluminescence signals in aqueous solutions, solid matrices, and zebrafish. These sensing platforms exhibited excellent selectivity toward morin and possessed good anti-interference abilities, achieving limits of detection with 0.31 and 0.19 μM in the aqueous solution and solid state, respectively. Furthermore, the application of the as-prepared SNCDs at low concentration enhanced plant growth (using soybean seedlings as a model). The biological effects may be attributed to the promotion of light reaction and excess light reaction-induced injury. These findings offer novel insights into potential applications of SNCDs in sustainable agriculture and environmental monitoring.