Plant Part-Derived Carbon Dots for Biosensing

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) are a new cluster of carbon atoms with particle size less than 10 nm. CDs also exhibit interesting fluorescence (FL) properties. CDs are attractive because of their fascinating characteristics including low toxicity, good water solubility, and tremendous biocompatibility. Recently, CDs have been investigated as biosensors for numerous target analytes. Meanwhile, the utilization of cheap and renewable natural resources not only fulfills the pressing requirement for the large-scale synthesis of CDs but also encourages the establishment of sustainable applications. The preparation of CDs using natural resources, i.e., plants, offers several advantages as it is inexpensive, eco-friendly, and highly available in the surroundings. Plant parts are readily available natural resources as the starting materials to produce CDs with different characteristics and attractive applications. Several review articles are now available covering the synthesis, properties, and applications of CDs. However, there is no specific and focused review literature discussing plant part-derived CDs for biosensing applications. To handle this gap, we provide a review of the progress of CDs derived from various plant parts with their synthesis methods, optical properties, and biosensing applications in the last five years. We highlight the synthesis methods and then give an overview of their optical properties and applications as biosensors for various biomolecules and molecules in biological samples. Finally, we discuss some future perspectives for plant part-derived CDs for better material development and applications.

Recent Advances in Carbon Nanodots: A Promising Nanomaterial for Biomedical Applications

“…Sensing metal ions and macromolecules in biological systems needs to be developed to provide efficient, reliable, and affordable detection. The relative ease of preparing fluorescent CNDs and photostability allows for their use as economical alternatives in sensing crucial biomarkers [91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100]. Green-luminescent CNDs have been used to probe ROS such as ONOO− with high sensitivity in HeLa cells exposed for 4 h [49].…”

Naturally Derived Carbon Dots as Bioimaging Agents

“…In recent years, various kind of plant material such as coriander leaves, ginger, garlic, grass, coffee beans, lemon, orange juice etc. due to the existence of various carbon containing organic molecules including carbohydrates, cellulose and phenolic compounds [41]. Compared with commercial precursors, the plant material derived CDs showed enhanced fluorescence emission with high quantum yield due to heteroatoms such as nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus.…”

Nanobiotechnology as a platform for the diagnosis of COVID-19: a review

“…Nanoparticles exhibit distinct properties such as large surfaces, many active sites, and high adsorption capacities compared to bulk materials. Thus, they have been applied for several applications such as analytical chemistry [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], proteomics [27], sensing/biosensing [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35], biotechnology [36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], nanomedicine [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53], drug delivery [54][55][56], gene transfer [57][58][59][60], wound healing [61], energy-based applications [62][63][64]…”

“…Nanoparticles exhibit distinct properties such as large surfaces, many active sites, and high adsorption capacities compared to bulk materials. Thus, they have been applied for several applications such as analytical chemistry [ 17 – 26 ], proteomics [ 27 ], sensing/biosensing [ 28 – 35 ], biotechnology [ 36 – 45 ], nanomedicine [ 46 – 53 ], drug delivery [ 54 – 56 ], gene transfer [ 57 – 60 ], wound healing [ 61 ], energy-based applications [ 62 – 67 ], and environmental applications [ 68 – 75 ]. Nanoparticles improved these applications by showing high performance [ 76 – 84 ] with a great potential for implementation into a miniaturized device, including wearable electronics [ 85 – 87 ].…”