Issue 37, 2023

Red emissive carbon dots: a promising next-generation material with intracellular applicability

Abstract

The accidental discovery of carbon dots (CDs) back in 2004 has led to their widespread use in the biomedical field. CDs have demonstrated their effectiveness in reporting 3D structures of biological specimens, identifying normal and cancer cells, and even detecting analytes within cells. However, the limitations of blue-green emitting CDs, such as their shallow penetration, photodamage, and auto-fluorescence, have hindered their practical applications. To overcome these limitations, red emissive CDs (RCDs) have been developed, which have deep tissue penetration, minimal photo-damage, low auto-fluorescence, and high imaging contrast. In this article, we present a thorough review on the use of RCDs in biomedical applications, including in vivo and in vitro bioimaging, photoacoustic imaging, monitoring temperature and polarity changes in living cells, tumour therapy, and drug delivery. With the rapid progress being made in the development of RCDs for intracellular applications, their clinical application is expected to become a reality in the near future.

Graphical abstract: Red emissive carbon dots: a promising next-generation material with intracellular applicability

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
18 6 2023
Accepted
12 8 2023
First published
14 8 2023

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 8848-8865

Red emissive carbon dots: a promising next-generation material with intracellular applicability

K. Warjurkar, S. Panda and V. Sharma, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023, 11, 8848 DOI: 10.1039/D3TB01378B

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