Carbon Dots with Red Emission for Sensing of Pt2+, Au3+, and Pd2+ and Their Bioapplications in Vitro and in Vivo

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 1147 - 1154
• Main Authors: Gao, Wenli, Song, Haohan, Wang, Xiao, Liu, Xiaoqiang, Pang, Xiaobin, Zhou, Yanmei, Gao, Bin, Peng, Xiaojun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 10.01.2018
• Subjects: aqueous solutions; biocompatibility; carbon quantum dots; citric acid; cytotoxicity; Danio rerio; fluorescence; fluorescent dyes; gold; hot water treatment; metal ions; photobleaching; solids; biosensing; carbon dots; fluorescent probe; noble metal ions; bioimaging; red emission
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b16991

Red emissive carbon dots (CDs) have drawn more and more attention due to their good organ penetration depth and slight biological tissue photodamage. Herein, the fluorescent CDs with red emission were synthesized by the facile one-pot hydrothermal treatment of citric acid and neutral red and they show red fluorescence both in aqueous solution and solid state. The solution of CDs exhibits the quantum yield of 12.1%, good stability against photobleaching, and low cytotoxicity. As-prepared CDs can be used as a fluorescent probe for peculiar detection of Pt2+, Au3+, and Pd2+. Furthermore, the CDs show excellent biocompatibility, which were successfully used as hopeful bioimaging and biosensing of noble metal ions in PC12 cells and zebrafish.