Issue 26, 2020

Carbon and graphene quantum dots: a review on syntheses, characterization, biological and sensing applications for neurotransmitter determination

Abstract

Neuro-transmitters have been considered to be essential biochemical molecules, which monitor physiological and behavioral function in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Thus, it is of high pharmaceutical and biological significance to analyze neuro-transmitters in the biological samples. So far, researchers have devised a lot of techniques for assaying these samples. It has been found that electro-chemical sensors possess features of robustness, selectivity, and sensitivity as well as real-time measurement. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and carbon QDs (CQDs) are considered some of the most promising carbon-based nanomaterials at the forefront of this research area. This is due to their characteristics including lower toxicity, higher solubility in various solvents, great electronic features, strong chemical inertness, high specific surface areas, plenty of edge sites for functionalization, and versatility, in addition to their ability to be modified via absorbent surface chemicals and the addition of modifiers or nano-materials. Hence in the present review, the synthesis methods of GQDs and CQDs has been summarized and their characterization methods also been analyzed. The applications of carbon-based QDs (GQDs and CQDs) in biological and sensing areas, such as biological imaging, drug/gene delivery, antibacterial and antioxidant activity, photoluminescence sensors, electrochemiluminescence sensors and electrochemical sensors, have also been discussed. This study then covers sensing features of key neurotransmitters, including dopamine, tyrosine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin and acetylcholine. Hence, issues and challenges of the GQDs and CQDs were analyzed for their further development.

Graphical abstract: Carbon and graphene quantum dots: a review on syntheses, characterization, biological and sensing applications for neurotransmitter determination

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
26 jan 2020
Accepted
03 apr 2020
First published
20 apr 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 15406-15429

Carbon and graphene quantum dots: a review on syntheses, characterization, biological and sensing applications for neurotransmitter determination

S. Tajik, Z. Dourandish, K. Zhang, H. Beitollahi, Q. V. Le, H. W. Jang and M. Shokouhimehr, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 15406 DOI: 10.1039/D0RA00799D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, 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 commercial 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