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Preparation of highly luminescent and color tunable carbon nanodots under visible light excitation for in vitro and in vivo bio-imaging

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2015

Min Zheng ,
Shi Liu ,
Jing Li ,
Zhigang Xie ,
Dan Qu ,
Xiang Miao ,
Xiabin Jing ,
Zaicheng Sun  and
Hongyou Fan
Min Zheng
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory for Green Catalysis and Separation, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, People's Republic of China; and State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, People's Republic of China
Shi Liu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, People's Republic of China
Jing Li
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, People's Republic of China
Zhigang Xie
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, People's Republic of China
Dan Qu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, People's Republic of China
Xiang Miao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, People's Republic of China; and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China
Xiabin Jing
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130022, People's Republic of China
Zaicheng Sun*
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Laboratory for Green Catalysis and Separation, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, People's Republic of China; and State Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Applications, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics, and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin 130033, People's Republic of China
Hongyou Fan*
Affiliation:
Center for Micro-Engineered Materials, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87106, USA; and Advanced Materials Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, NM 87106, Albuquerque, USA
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: sunzc@bjut.edu.cn
b)e-mail: hfan@unm.edu
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Abstract

Carbon nanodots (CDs) have generated enormous excitement because of their superiority in water solubility, chemical inertness, low toxicity, ease of functionalization and resistance to photobleaching. Here we report a facile thermal pyrolysis route to prepare CDs with high quantum yield (QY) using citric acid as the carbon source and ethylene diamine derivatives (EDAs) including triethylenetetramine (TETA), tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) and polyene polyamine (PEPA) as the passivation agents. We find that the CDs prepared from EDAs, such as TETA, TEPA and PEPA, show relatively high photoluminescence (PL) QY (11.4, 10.6, and 9.8%, respectively) at λex of 465 nm. The cytotoxicity of the CDs has been investigated through in vitro and in vivo bio-imaging studies. The results indicate that these CDs possess low toxicity and good biocompatibility. The unique properties such as the high PL QY at large excitation wave length and the low toxicity of the resulting CDs make them promising fluorescent nanoprobes for applications in optical bio-imaging and biosensing.

Keywords

carbon nanodotsluminescencebio-imagingcolor tuneablecitric acidethylene diamines
Type
Invited Feature Papers
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 30 , Issue 22 , 27 November 2015 , pp. 3386 - 3393
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

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