Facile synthesis of carbon dots with blue-emitting for fluorescence determination of alizarin yellow R and temperature

[Display omitted] •In this paper, the nitrogen and sulfur doped carbon dots was first developed to detect alizarin yellow R.•The probe displayed a wide linear range and a lower detection limit.•The quenching mechanism was ascribed to inner filter effect. Herein, a nontoxic, quick and one-step hydrothermal strategy was used to develop nitrogen and sulfur doped carbon dots (N,S-CDs). Sulfapyridine was selected as a sulfur source, and m-phenylenediamine was applied as a nitrogen source. In addition, the as-developed N,S-CDs indicated excitation-dependent feature, strong blue-emitting fluorescence, excellent photostability and anti-ion effect. Furthermore, the as-established N,S-CDs displayed an excellent linear characteristic for the determination of alizarin yellow R. The detection limit was 0.25 μM. Moreover, the as-developed N-CDs were successfully applied to determine alizarin yellow R in real samples.