Photonic Carbon Dots as an Emerging Nanoagent for Biomedical and Healthcare Applications

Abstract

As a class of carbon-based nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) have attracted enormous attention because of their tunable optical and physicochemical properties, such as absorptivity and photoluminescence from ultraviolet to near-infrared, high photostability, biocompatibility, and aqueous dispersity. These characteristics make CDs a promising alternative photonic nanoagent to conventional fluorophores in disease diagnosis, treatment, and healthcare managements. This review describes the fundamental photophysical properties of CDs and highlights their recent applications to bioimaging, photomedicine (e.g., photodynamic/photothermal therapies), biosensors, and healthcare devices. We discuss current challenges and future prospects of photonic CDs to give an insight into developing vibrant fields of CD-based biomedicine and healthcare.

Self-Assembling Peptides and Carbon Nanomaterials Join Forces for Innovative Biomedical Applications

“…Carbon dots are a more recent type of carbon nanomaterials that can be conveniently prepared through top-down or bottom-up approaches [ 153 ], also starting from small molecules in a green manner [ 61 ], and have very promising photoluminescence and biocompatibility profiles for applications in medicine [ 154 , 155 ]. They are widely studied, especially for biosensing applications, given their tunable optoelectronic properties [ 156 ].…”

Overcome Debye Length Limitations for Biomolecule Sensing Based on Field Effective Transistors†

“…High efficient detection of biomolecules plays an important role in the field of drug discovery, disease diagnosis and environmental monitoring. [ 1‐4 ] However, labeling techniques and high quantity sample are needed in current detection, which waste diagnosis time and increase test expenses. [ 5‐8 ] Developing label‐ free and real‐time monitoring based on one‐dimension (1D) or two‐dimension (2D) materials has caused wide attention.…”

The Peptide Functionalized Inorganic Nanoparticles for Cancer-Related Bioanalytical and Biomedical Applications

“…Diagnostic and therapeutic agents play critical roles in the combat against this malignant disease. Because of their unique physicochemical properties such as large specific surface area, easy functionalization, and excellent optical, electrical, and magnetic properties, a variety of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have been extensively studied for early detection and treatment of cancers since 1996 [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. For instance, due to their morphology (size, shape, and structure)-dependent localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), colloidal gold NPs (AuNPs) have been employed for the development of simple colorimetric sensing systems for sensitive detection of various cancer-related biomarkers and carcinogens [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 29 ].…”

“…Rare earth-doped up-conversion NPs (UCNPs), such as NaYF 4 : Yb 3+ , Er 3+ UCNPs, can be excited by 808 nm and/or 980 near infrared (NIR) lasers, then emit at specific shorter wavelengths, resulting in improved detection specificity through a decrease of the bioluminesce background [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Because noble metal nanoclusters (size less than 2 nm in diameter), carbon dots (CDs, 1 to 10 nm in diameter), and semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have a large Stokes shift and size-dependent excitation and emission spectra, they can be used as photomedicinal agents for in vitro/in vivo photoluminescence (PL) imaging [ 6 , 22 , 23 ]. Magnetic nanoparticles such as iron oxide NPs (IONPs) are excellent theranostics for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) against cancer because they exhibit good biocompatibility, strong magnetic resonance (MR) contrast capacity, and high photothermal conversion efficiency [ 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”