Issue 9, 2020

Facile synthesis of red dual-emissive carbon dots for ratiometric fluorescence sensing and cellular imaging

Abstract

Recently, widespread attention has been paid to red emissive carbon dots (CDs) which have desirable optical properties, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. Despite great efforts, the facile preparation of red dual-emissive CDs useful for ratiometric detection and bioimaging remains challenging. Here, we report a facile synthesis of red dual-emissive CDs and their potential for ratiometric fluorescence sensing and cellular imaging. Derived from the hydrothermal treatment of dicyandiamide and o-phenylenediamine in dilute sulfuric acid, the CDs are surface-tailored with nitrogen-, oxygen-, and sulfur-containing functional groups. The as-prepared CDs show various good features, including good water solubility, biocompatibility, excitation-independent dual-emission with two photoluminescence (PL) peaks centered at 630 and 680 nm, and an absolute quantum yield (QY) of 30.2% in water. The CDs exhibit a selective, sensitive, rapid, and stable ratiometric fluorescence response toward methyl blue, giving a linear relationship in the range of 0.5–300 μM with a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.997. We also study ratiometric fluorescence sensing for the accurate detection of pH. Moreover, the CDs possess good cellular imaging ability, indicating their promising applicability for biomedical applications. These results pave a way toward the fabrication of red dual-emissive carbon-based nanomaterials useful for both ratiometric sensing and bioimaging.

Graphical abstract: Facile synthesis of red dual-emissive carbon dots for ratiometric fluorescence sensing and cellular imaging

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Jan 2020
Accepted
02 Feb 2020
First published
05 Feb 2020

Nanoscale, 2020,12, 5494-5500

Facile synthesis of red dual-emissive carbon dots for ratiometric fluorescence sensing and cellular imaging

Y. Hu, Z. Yang, X. Lu, J. Guo, R. Cheng, L. Zhu, C. Wang and S. Chen, Nanoscale, 2020, 12, 5494 DOI: 10.1039/D0NR00381F

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements