A Versatile Optical Fiber Sensor Comprising an Excitation-Independent Carbon Quantum Dots/Cellulose Acetate Composite Film for Adrenaline Detection

A novel optical sensor was constructed for the detection of adrenaline (AD) by immobilizing a carbon quantum dots (CQDs)/cellulose acetate (CA) composite film on the tip of an optical fiber via dip-coating method. The emission wavelength of the CQDs was stabled at about 520 nm when it was excited from 410 to 490 nm, showing a special excitation independent characteristic. The fluorescence intensity of the CQDs quenched by AD with high selectivity leads to development of a novel sensitive method for the AD detection. The fluorescence intensity of the optical sensor has a good linear response to the concentration of adrenaline in the range of 5 μM t o45 μM (R²=0.99875). This investigation illustrates that optical fiber sensor platform may have great potential for the detection of AD in biomedical fields.

I. Introduction

Adrenaline (AD), also called epinephrine is an important hormone that used in hypertension, bronchial asthma, cardiac surgery and myocardial infection [1], [2]. Adrenaline concentration range is – in human fluids according to the stress level, which relates to Huntington’s disease, heart attacks and other physical diseases [3]. Common methods for the detection of adrenaline in human fluids sample like high performance liquid chromatography and voltammetry have many restrictions such as time consuming procedures, consumption of expensive chemicals, which limits their use for routine analysis [4]. Therefore, a cost-effective sensor that can be used to detect adrenaline is imperative.