Unlocking Multimodal Activity in Metal-Free Doped Carbon Dots: A Robust Nanozyme for Colorimetric Kaempferol Detection

Kaempferol (Kae) as a ubiquitous plant flavonoid exhibits notable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The content of Kae affects the redox balance of the environment and living organisms, which is necessitating precise monitoring. To address this, this work developed a novel colorimetric sensing platform based on carbon dots (VP-CDs) nanozyme for the rapid and accurate detection of Kae. The VP-CDs were synthesized from riboflavin and polyethylenimine as the precursors through a one-step hydrothermal method, which did not contain any metals, thus avoiding potential toxicity to environment. In addition, due to their outstanding structural properties, VP-CDs demonstrated dual-activated enzymatic activity. Under UV light irradiation, they exhibited good oxidase-like activity. When exposed to no light, they showed excellent peroxidase-like activity. Leveraging the process by which Kae consumed the reactive oxygen species produced by VP-CDs-oxidase, we constructed a highly sensitive and selective colorimetric sensor for the detection of Kae with a linear detection range of 0.5-20 μM and a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.16 μM. Furthermore, the colorimetric visual sensing platform integrated with smartphone were established and successfully realized rapid and portable visual monitoring of Kae. The sensing platform was successfully applied to real-sample analysis, demonstrating good accuracy and reliability. This work not only advanced the application of nanozyme-based sensors in Kae detection, but also provided a foundation for the rational design of CDs-mimetic enzymes for biomedical and environmental monitoring.