A simple and efficient synthesis of carbon nanodots (CNDs) was proposed by using hydrochar obtained through hydrothermal carbonization of beer bagasse (BB), a by-product of the beer industry that possesses several appealing advantages as a lignocellulosic source for carbon material synthesis. Raw materials and produced CNDs were characterized by several techniques such as transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR, diffusion light scattering (DLS), Zeta potential and the optical properties were studied by spectrofluorophotometry (PL), and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. The synthesized CNDs exhibited small dimensions, interesting fluorescence behaviour, high stability and remarkable water solubility due to the presence of hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups. Exploiting these properties, CNDs were employed for in the development of highly sensitive fluorimetric and electrochemical probes for heavy metal ions, which are of great concern for human health, aquatic life, and environmental sustainability. Hg2+ and Pb2+ were detected by the fluorimetric probe with a limit of detection of 11.3 nM and 78.8 nM, respectively, while the electrochemical platform allowed the selective and simultaneous detection of heavy metals with high sensitivity in the range between 11.4 and 34.1 μAnM−1cm−2.

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