Coke-derived graphene quantum dots as fluorescence nanoquencher in DNA detection

Abstract The recent emergence of coal and related fossil fuel products as an abundant and affordable source of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) highlights the potential of the carbon precursor in the development of simple and cost-effective DNA nanobiosensors. A coke-derived precursor – calcined petroleum coke – was utilized for the facile one-step synthesis of GQDs. Thereafter, DNA detection based on the coke-derived GQD platform exploited the differences in propensity towards spontaneous self-assembly with labelled single-stranded, and double-stranded DNA sequences. For this purpose, GQDs functioned as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) acceptors for DNA detection down to 0.004 nM. The sensing assay displays sensitivity over 3 orders of magnitudes. These results pave the way towards the identification of alternative nanomaterials for the development of inexpensive nanobiosensors for highly efficient, sensitive and selective detection of DNA.