Carbon Dots (CDs) are carbon nanoparticles which were discovered in 2004. Despite two decades of intensive work from the scientific community and a colossal amount of gathered experimental data, no definitive consensus exists to date on several key aspects such as the actual definition of CDs and the origin of their emissive properties. This review proposes a critical evaluation of these fundamental questions. Lay persons will also find here an alternative introduction to the CDs domain, including synthetic strategies, photophysical properties, as well as challenges and outlook of this exciting new area.
Thanks to their photophysical
properties, both organic molecular
fluorophores (MFs) and inorganic quantum dots (QDs) are extensively
used for bioimaging applications. However, limitations such as photobleaching
for the former or blinking, size, and toxicity for the latter still
constitute a challenge for numerous applications. We report here that
embedding MFs in graphitic carbon dots (GDs) results in fluorophores
which entirely tackle this challenge. Characterized by ultranarrow,
bright, and excitation-independent emission devoid of blinking and
photobleaching, these hybrid-featured nanoparticles also demonstrate
their unique photophysical performances at the single-nanoparticle
scale, making them appealing candidates for bioimaging applications.
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