Bioimaging Applications of Carbon Nanodots: A Review

Abstract

Carbon nanodots (CNDs) is the newest member of carbon-based nanomaterials and one of the most promising for the development of new, advanced applications. Owing to their unique and unparalleled physicochemical and photoluminescent properties, they are considered to be a rising star among nanomaterials. During the last decade, many applications have been developed based on CNDs. Among others, they have been used as bioimaging agents to label cells and tissues. In this review, we will discuss the advancements in the applications of CNDs in in the field of imaging, in all types of organisms (i.e., prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and animals). Selective imaging of one type of cells over another, imaging of (bio)molecules inside cells and tumor-targeting imaging are some of the studies that will be discussed hereafter. We hope that this review will assist researchers with obtaining a holistic view of the developed applications and hit on new ideas so that more advanced applications can be developed in the near future.

Facile Synthesis of Water-Soluble, Highly-Fluorescent Graphene Quantum Dots from Graphene Oxide Reduction for Efficient Cell Labelling

“…Peak shifts of about 60 nm were measured for excitation from 420 to 500 nm, with a concomitant change in PL intensity ( Figure 1C). This excitation-dependent PL behavior is similar to that reported in the literature for carbonbased fluorescent dots [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]22] and may be a consequence of the broad distribution of the orbital energy of the defect states. The PL quantum yield of the GQDs calculated using quinine sulphate as a reference (QY = 0.54) was about 0.053.…”

“…The optical properties of carbon nanostructures have attracted great interest from the scientific community in the last years [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. The possible applications of these nanostructures in biophotonics have focused the attention of the scientific community on the fluorescent carbon nanoparticles.…”

Recent Advances in Carbon Dots

“…achieved. Kasouni et al presented a comprehensive review that extensively discusses the use of CNDs in bioimaging applications [5]. In this article, multiple applications of CNDs as imaging agents for prokaryotes, eukaryotes, and animals are provided and discussed.…”

Fluorescence Intensity Enhancement of Green Carbon Dots: Synthesis, Characterization and Cell Imaging

“…Because of the excellent properties of CDs, they have revealed many advantages in cell penetration and imaging (6)(7)(8). Furthermore, CDs exposed multicolor emission small size (9,10) and upconversion photoluminescence (PL) that can be conjugated to biomolecules and organic agents thought their surface passivation (11). Due to their interesting properties, several effective and simple synthetic approaches ranging from discharge (12), pyrolysis (13), laser irradiation (14), electrochemical synthesis (15), ultrasonic treatment (16,17), microwave (5) and hydrothermal have been utilized in the preparation of fluorescent CDs by employing numerous materials as a carbon fountain.…”