Primary alcohols and mixtures of alcohol and 1,4-dioxane with different ratios (0 to 100%, v/v, with an increment of 10%) were prepared. To this, 0.05 mg mL−1 of powdered PD-CNDs was added and dispersed by sonication. The shift in the emission peak maximum of CNDs in various alcohols and alcohol–1,4-dioxane mixtures was monitored using fluorescence spectroscopy.