Properties and Applications of Fluorescent Carbon Dots Prepared by Green Natural Substances: a Review
LIU Wen1,2, LI Tingting2, ZHANG Bing1, ZHANG Rong2, DIAO Haipeng2, CHANG Honghong1, WEI Wenlong1
1 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024 2 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001
Abstract: Due to the rapid development of the fluorescence microscopy, laser technology and nanotechnology, the importance of the fluorescent nanomaterials in biomedical research and applications is growing larger and larger as well. Traditional fluorescent materials, including small molecules and conjugated polymers are widely used in biological imaging, biomarker diagnosis, and fluorescence detection, etc. In the 20th century, with the emergence of nanoscience, a new type of fluorescence materials-quantum dots began to enter the people’s field of vision. Traditional quantum dots, mainly composed of Ⅱ-Ⅵ, Ⅲ-Ⅴ elements (such as Cd, Te, etc.), are named for “semiconductor quantum dots”. Since the main body of traditional semiconductor quantum dots is semiconductor, which has a hidden danger in biosafety and environmental pollution, thus limiting its further application and development. Since the first discovery of fluorescent carbon dots in 2004, the study of carbon dots have attracted much attention for domestic and foreign scholars. The carbon dots generally referring to a nanocarbon are less than 10 nm, and have quasi-spherical structure and stable luminescence. Compared with other carbon nanomaterials, carbon dots have unique luminescent properties, such as size and wavelength dependence. Meanwhile, the carbon dots overcome the defects of organic dyes including unstable illumination and easy photobleaching. Besides, the carbon dots are easy to prepare and the raw materials are widely available and inexpensive. The cytotoxicity of carbon dots is critical for their application in the field of biological, thus have received tremendous attention from researchers. Compared with the semiconductor quantum dots, carbon dots which don’t contain heavy metals elements are low toxicity and can be applied to biological imaging and fluorescence targeted location. In recent years, the research focused on the synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots with green natural substances as carbon source has been launched. Carbon dots prepared by natural substances have the advantages of producing cheap, renewable and suitable for large-scale preparation, reducing chemical exposure, and environment friendly. At present, the raw material mainly reported are concentrated in vegetables, fruits, plant petals and fruits, etc. Most of the natural substances contain carbohydrates, protein and other ingredients, and thereby are self-passivated to form heteroelement doped carbon dots, making them obtain superior optical properties and been widely used. However, the current reports on the luminescence of such carbon dots are mainly concentrated in the short wavelength and the low fluorescence quantum yield, and the luminescence mechanism is not yet clear. In this review, based on the latest research progress, the synthesis and characterization methods of carbon dots prepared by natural substances are introduced. Moreover, the properties of carbon dots and their applications in ions and biological sensing, detection as well as bioima-ging are also summarized. Then, the merits and demerits of such carbon dots are analyzed. Finally,the future development of carbon dots prepared by natural substances in drug carriers, drug delivery and targeted therapy diseases are prospected.
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