Co-reductive fabrication of carbon nanodots with high quantum yield for bioimaging of bacteria

Jiajun Wang, Xia Liu, Gesmi Milcovich, Tzu Yu Chen, Edel Durack, Sarah Mallen, Yongming Ruan, Xuexiang Weng, Sarah P. Hudson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A simple and straightforward synthetic approach for carbon nanodots (C-dots) is proposed. The strategy is based on a one-step hydrothermal chemical reduction with thiourea and urea, leading to high quantum yield C-dots. The obtained C-dots are welldispersed with a uniform size and a graphite-like structure. A synergistic reduction mechanism was investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The findings show that using both thiourea and urea during the one-pot synthesis enhances the luminescence of the generated C-dots. Moreover, the prepared C-dots have a high distribution of functional groups on their surface. In this work, C-dots proved to be a suitable nanomaterial for imaging of bacteria and exhibit potential for application in bioimaging thanks to their low cytotoxicity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)137-145
Number of pages9
JournalBeilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Bioimaging
  • Carbon nanodots
  • Collaborative reduction
  • Hydrothermal

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