Hydrothermal synthesis of blue-emitting silicon quantum dots for fluorescent detection of hypochlorite in tap waterElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Fig. S1-S11, and Table S1. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ay03325j

A facile, sensitive and selective method for the fluorescent detection of hypochlorite in tap water has been developed by utilization of blue-emissive silicon quantum dots (SiQDs) with a quantum yield of 10.6%. The SiQDs are prepared via a simple hydrothermal treatment of (3-aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane and sodium citrate, and they display excellent stability in high salt conditions. The proposed preparation method for SiQDs does not require complicated synthesis and does not need the protection of an inert gas. It is attractive that the as-prepared SiQDs can be utilized to detect hypochlorite in tap water with relatively good selectivity and sensitivity, and as low as 0.01 μM hypochlorite could be successfully determined. A facile fluorescence method for detecting hypochlorite in tap water with good selectivity and sensitivity has been designed using SiQDs. As low as 0.01 μM of hypochlorite can be detected and the practicability has been investigated in tap water.