Plant-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Dots as an Effective Fertilizer for Enhanced Strawberry Growth and Yield

Plant-derived carbon dots have superior light absorption and intrinsic fluorescence properties. In this work, we have prepared nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) from Piper betle leaves using a simple hydrothermal method. The synthesized N-CDs were characterized by various techniques such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared, and photoluminescence. The N-CDs further proved to have systemic effects on the growth of strawberries compared with irrigating the strawberry plants with water and regular nutrients. The strawberry plants treated with N-CDs exhibited an increase in chlorophyll content of about 24.7%, which was reflected in increased carbohydrate content of approximately 48.61% compared to control plants. Also, N-CD-treated strawberry plants showed increased secondary metabolites (phenolics) compared to control plants. Moreover, at the end of harvesting, the comparison was reflected in significant amounts of strawberries and in an increase in the leaf area of strawberry plants obtained by the N-CD growth. The results demonstrate that biomass-based betel leave-derived N-CDs can be an effective fertilizer for global agricultural production applications.