Hydrogen peroxide assisted synthesis of sulfur quantum dots for the detection of chromium (VI) and ascorbic acid

[Display omitted] •To date, only a few researches reported the synthesis of SQDs and application for analytical detection.•High sensitivity and quickly response detection toward Cr (VI) and AA using SQDs were successfully established.•The quenching mechanism of Cr (VI) with SQDs was well studied. Sulfur quantum dots (SQDs), heavy-metal-free quantum dots, are regarded as the next generation promising green nanomaterials compared with traditional heavy-metal-based quantum dots. However, there have been few reports on the synthesis and application of SQDs for analytical detection. Herein, an H2O2-assisted top-down method is used to synthesize SQDs. The as-obtained SQDs have good water dispersion, stability, photoluminescence (PL) properties and achieving a quantum yield (QY) to 11%. After adding Cr (VI) in SQDs, the fluorescence intensity decreases base on inner filter effect (IFE). Moreover, Cr (VI) can be reduced to Cr(III) when ascorbic acid (AA) is introduced into the SQDs - Cr (VI) system, accompanying the recovery of the fluorescence intensity. The fluorescence sensor displays high sensitivity and quickly response toward Cr (VI) and AA in a range of 10–120 μmol L−1 and 20–500 μmol L−1 with a detection limit of 0.36 μmol L−1 and 1.21 μmol L−1, respectively. In addition, the fluorescence sensor has been applied for the determination of Cr (VI) and AA in real samples.