Indian Gooseberry-Derived Tunable Fluorescent Carbon Dots as a Promise for In Vitro/In Vivo Multicolor Bioimaging and Fluorescent Ink

Abstract

We report the synthesis of eco-friendly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs) using the renewable resource of Phyllanthus emblica juice as a precursor by the hydrothermal process at 200 °C for 12 h. The synthesized NCDs emitted bright fluorescence without any pretreatment of the sample under the excitation of UV light and exhibited excitation-dependent fluorescence emission. The NCDs have nitrogen-containing and oxygen-containing functional groups such as amino, hydroxyl, and carboxyl on the surface of the carbon structure. Furthermore, the NCDs exhibited excellent water dispersibility with prolonging stability and good biocompatibility. On the basis of the good optical properties, the NCDs have potentially been used as a promising staining agent on HCT-116 human colon cancer cells and Caenorhabditis elegans (nematodes) for multicolor cellular imaging. In the cell cytoplasm, the NCDs showed rapid uptake and high cytocompatibility on cellular morphology with bright fluorescence emission. Furthermore, the NCDs were used as fluorescent ink for writing and drawing with anticoagulation. In addition, the NCDs were significantly utilized as a fluorescent ink for thumb impression, which glows instantly under the illumination of UV light and does not require a secondary treatment. Hence, the synthesized NCDs can be used as ideal multicolor fluorescent probes for bioimaging applications and as fluorescent ink instead of traditional fluorescent ink.

Effect of carbonization degree of carbon dots on cytotoxicity and photo-induced toxicity to cells

“…In MCF-12A cells, the largest LDH release at 2.0 mg/ml of 160-50, 180-40, 200-30, and 220-20 formations were 14.76% ± 0.20, 10.81% ± 0.28, 9.87% ± 0.11, 10.73% ± 0.23, respectively, compared to 1.05% ± 0.05 when the control formation was used (Figure 6d). Therefore, even at high concentrations, these CDs exhibited little toxicity toward cells compared to other reports [45, 46]. Greater toxicity of the 160-50 sample than the other three formations is most likely due to its significantly larger zeta potential [47, 48], indicating uptake of the 160-50 CDs by SKBR3 and MCF-12A cells than the other formations.…”

Miscanthus grass-derived carbon dots to selectively detect Fe3+ ions

“…13 In many cases, sustainable materials are derived from biobased precursors. [14][15][16][17][18][19] Such carbon sources can be generalized under the following categories: fruits/vegetables, food/beverage wastes, animal/human derivatives and plant/agricultural biomass materials. 13 The use of agricultural biomass and wastes has a positive impact on the environment as the materials repurpose waste into value-added products.…”

Green Synthesis of S- and N-Codoped Carbon Nanospheres and Application as Adsorbent of Pb (II) from Aqueous Solution

“…Including these nanodesigned carbon substances, the carbon nanospheres have drawn large considerations owing to their various uses in catalyst supports, anodes for lithium-ion batteries, electrodes for supercapacitors, lubricants, polymer, and rubber additives, which result from their exceptional properties, for instance, superior chemical stability, thermal insulation, low density, and high compressive strength [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. ere are many different methods to synthesis the carbon nanospheres involving arc plasma technique [9], catalyzed pyrolysis [10], self-generated template manner [11], hydrothermal reaction [12], spray pyrolysis [13] and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [14], etc. Currently, friendly environment synthesis technique has been advanced including transformation of easily obtainable precursors, for example, glucose [15] and cyclodextrins to carbon nanospheres beneath moderate conditions (hydrothermal reaction at 160-180°C) [16].…”