Synthesis of carbon dots from fish bone waste and its sensitivity to Tartrazine

Tartrazine is food coloring used for beverages and candies, which is harmful to the liver and reproduction when accumulated. An advanced material that can be easily synthesized and has a potential application in detecting tartrazine is carbon dots (CDs). CDs can be made from biomass waste such as Euthynnus affinis bone. This study aims to synthesize CDs Euthynnus affinis fishbone and investigate their sensitivity to tartrazine. The synthesized process consists of drying the fish bones for eight days, placing them in the oven at 200°C for 1 hour, crushing them with a grinder, and putting them again in the oven at 250°C for 4 hours. The samples are prepared by mixing 1 gram of each powder with 50 mL distilled water, stirring up the mixture for 30 minutes, centrifuging, and filtering. The samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis to identify the functional groups in the samples. The functional groups shown from FTIR are C=C, C≡C, O-H, and O=C=O. UV-Vis and photoluminescence (PL) analyses are also performed. All the prepared samples showed a peak absorption wavelength around 265 nm based on the UV-Vis analysis. Based on the PL analysis, the maximum wavelength intensity occurred at wavelengths between 470 and 500 nm, and the samples emit blue light when irradiated with a UV flashlight. The results also showed that the greater the tartrazine concentration, the weaker the intensity produced. The peak intensity at the different tartrazine concentrations also slightly shifted. It shows that CDs have a potential application as tartrazine sensors/detectors.