Fluorescent graphene oxide composites synthesis and its biocompatibility study

Abstract

In this research, we developed a “clean” and “wet” route to produce sandwich-like fluorescent CdQ₂/GO composites sheets starting from graphene oxide (GO) and Cd²⁺ in water/ethanol solution in one pot. The as-prepared CdQ₂/GO composites sheets were fully characterized by IR, XRD, TEM and TGA analysis. The CdQ₂/GO composites exhibited a strong fluorescence emission centered at 500 nm. Both the solid sample and the water dispersion could demonstrate strong green fluorescence. When incubated with Hep G2 cells at 37 °C, the CdQ₂/GO composites were found to adhere to the surroundings of the cell membrane, resulting in strong green fluorescence observed by laser confocal fluorescence microscopy. MTT assay experiment results showed that this kind of composite material had low cytotoxicity at the concentration of 400 μg mL⁻¹. We believe this method and composite materials will open up a brand new avenue for wider applications of graphene-based materials in the detection of other types of biomarkers, biomolecular interactions, and fluorescence imaging in vitro and in vivo.