A photoluminescence and colorimetric dual-active mode of copper-modified carbon dots for quantitative sensing of histamine

Determination of the histamine in food is a crucial aspect regarding its safety issue. The present study reported the preparation of copper-doped carbon dots (Cu-CDs) through the pyrolysis method and further applied them for sensitive histamine detection via UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. Several characterizations, including X-ray diffraction, Raman, Infrared, and photoluminescence spectra, confirmed this nanomaterial’s well-formed Cu-CDs and all-optical properties. While Photoluminescence spectra perform regular degradation of Cu-CDs emission, the absorption spectra also showed increasing peaks at 270 nm following the enhancement of histamine concentration introduced to Cu-CDs. The analytical method parameters were next used to evaluate histamine detection performance, where the Cu-CDs showed good accuracy and selectivity for detecting histamine with LOD and LOQ values as low as 19.20 and 64 mg l⁻¹, respectively. It also possessed a valuable recovery rate ranging from 89%-106%. Even though UV-vis Spectrophotometry successfully detected histamine, Cu-CDs maintained their photoluminescence properties, offering more distinct advantages, including low cost, simplicity, high sensitivity, and selectivity properties.