One-pot dual product synthesis of hierarchical Co3O4@N-rGO for supercapacitors,N-GDs for label-free detection of metal ion and bio-imaging applications

Cobalt oxide nanoparticles@nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (Co₃O₄@N-rGO) composite and nitrogen-doped graphene dots (N-GDs) were synthesized by a one-pot simple hydrothermal method. The average sizes of the synthesized bare cobalt oxide nanoparticles (Co₃O₄ NPs) and Co₃O₄ NPs in the Co₃O₄@N-rGO composite were around 22 and 24 nm, respectively with an interlayer distance of 0.21 nm, as calculated using the XRD patterns. The Co₃O₄@N-rGO electrode exhibits superior capacitive performance with a high capability of about 450 F g^?1 at a current density of 1 A g^?1 and has excellent cyclic stability, even after 1000 cycles of GCD at a current density of 4 A g^?1. The obtained N-GDs exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity towards Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺, the limit of detection was as low as 1.1 and 1.0 μM, respectively, representing high sensitivity to Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺. Besides, the N-GDs was applied for bio-imaging. We found that N-GDs were suitable candidates for differential staining applications in yeast cells with good cell permeability and localization with negligible cytotoxicity. Hence, N-GDs may find dual utility as probes for the detection of cellular pools of metal ions (Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺) and also for early detection of opportunistic yeast infections in biological samples.