Search results for "carbon nanodots"
showing 10 items of 19 documents
Carbon Nanodots for On Demand Chemophotothermal Therapy Combination to Elicit Necroptosis: Overcoming Apoptosis Resistance in Breast Cancer Cell Lines
2020
Background: Engineered luminescent carbon nanodots (CDs) are appealing nanomaterials for cancer image-guided photothermal therapy combining near infrared (NIR)&ndash
Enhancing carbon dots fluorescence via plasmonic resonance energy transfer
2022
Using plasmonic interactions to engineer optical properties at the nanoscale is an important challenge of current photonics. Here we establish a general strategy to enhance the orange emission of carbon dots by coupling them to gold nanoparticles through a polymeric spacer in solution. We exploit the overlap between the surface plasmon resonance of gold and the electronic transitions of carbon dots to achieve a fivefold increase of their fluorescence in the orange region, which is usually very weak. We demonstrate that this enhancement stems from an ultrafast resonance energy transfer from the coherent plasmonic state of the gold nanoantenna to the coupled carbon dot. Our study advances the…
Carbon Nanodots as Functional Excipient to Develop Highly Stable and Smart PLGA Nanoparticles Useful in Cancer Theranostics
2020
Theranostic systems have attracted considerable attention for their multifunctional approach to cancer. Among these, carbon nanodots (CDs) emerged as luminescent nanomaterials due to their exceptional chemical properties, synthetic ease, biocompatibility, and for their photothermal and fluorescent properties useful in cancer photothermal therapy. However, premature renal excretion due to the small size of these particles limits their biomedical application. To overcome these limitations, here, hybrid poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA-CDs) nanoparticles with suitable size distribution and stability have been developed. CDs were decisive in the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles, not on…
Highly Homogeneous Biotinylated Carbon Nanodots: Red-Emitting Nanoheaters as Theranostic Agents toward Precision Cancer Medicine
2019
Very recent red-emissive carbon nanodots (CDs) have shown potential as near-infrared converting tools to produce local heat useful in cancer theranostics. Besides, CDs seem very appealing for clinical applications combining hyperthermia, imaging, and drug delivery in a single platform capable of selectively targeting cancer cells. However, CDs still suffer from dramatic dot-to-dot variability issues such that a rational design of their structural, optical, and chemical characteristics for medical applications has been impossible so far. Herein, we report for the first time a simple and highly controllable layer-by-layer synthesis of biotin-decorated CDs with monodisperse size distribution, …
Shifting the Photoresponse of ZnO Nanowires into the Visible Spectral Range by Surface Functionalization with Tailor-Made Carbon Nanodots
2018
We report on the surface functionalization of ZnO nanowires (NWs) with specifically synthesized carbon nanodots (C-dots, CDs) that allows us to shift the photoresponse of the NWs far into the visib...
β-C3N4 Nanocrystals: Carbon Dots with Extraordinary Morphological, Structural, and Optical Homogeneity
2018
Carbon nanodots are known for their appealing optical properties, especially their intense fluorescence tunable in the visible range. However, they are often affected by considerable issues of optical and structural heterogeneity, which limit their optical performance and limit the practical possibility of applying these nanoparticles in several fields. Here we developed a synthesis method capable of producing a unique variety of carbon nanodots displaying an extremely high visible absorption strength (ε > 3 × 106 M(dot)−1 cm−1) and a high fluorescence quantum yield (73%). The high homogeneity of these dots reflects in many domains: morphological (narrow size distribution), structural (q…
Photocycle of Excitons in Nitrogen-Rich Carbon Nanodots: Implications for Photocatalysis and Photovoltaics
2020
Nitrogen-rich carbon nanodots have emerged as promising nanomaterials for a wide range of applications where a highly emissive and photoactive material with low toxicity and cost-effectiveness is required. One of their hallmarks is indeed a bright, tunable fluorescence of excitonic nature. Disentangling the origin of their optical absorption and fluorescence properties and uncovering relaxation channels and interactions with solvents are some of the most debated issues in the field. Uncovering these aspects is essential for targeted applications, especially in the fields of photocatalysis but also photovoltaics and optoelectronics. Here, we present dedicated transient absorption measurement…
Temperature-Dependence of Solvent-Induced Stokes Shift and Fluorescence Tunability in Carbon Nanodots
2019
We carried out a cryogenic investigation on the optical properties of carbon dots, aiming to better understand their emission mechanism and the role of the solvent. The solvatochromic Stokes shift is quantified by a low temperature approach which allows freezing of the photo-excited state of carbon dots, preventing any solvation relaxation. Moreover, the reduction in temperature helps to identify the dynamical inhomogeneous contribution to the broadening of the emission band; therefore, disentangling the role of solvent from other types of broadening, such as the homogeneous and the static inhomogeneous contributions.
Carbon Nanodots: A Review—From the Current Understanding of the Fundamental Photophysics to the Full Control of the Optical Response
2018
Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging family of nanosystems displaying a range of fascinating properties. Broadly speaking, they can be described as small, surface-functionalized carbonaceous nanoparticles characterized by an intense and tunable fluorescence, a marked sensitivity to the environment and a range of interesting photochemical properties. CDs are currently the subject of very intense research, motivated by their possible applications in many fields, including bioimaging, solar energy harvesting, nanosensing, light-emitting devices and photocatalyis. This review covers the latest advancements in the field of CDs, with a focus on the fundamental understanding of their key photophysica…
Effect of Halogen Ions on the Photocycle of Fluorescent Carbon Nanodots
2019
Carbon dots (C-dots) are well-known for their strong sensitivity to the environment, which reflects on intensity and shape changes of their fluorescence, induced by various interacting ions and molecules in solution. Although these interactions have been extensively studied in the last few years, especially in view of their possible sensing applications, the existing works have mostly focused on the quenching of C-dot fluorescence induced by metal cations. In fact, these latter easily bind to C-dots surfaces, which are negatively charged in most cases, promoting an electron transfer from the surface to them. Much less is known from the literature on the effect induced on C-dots by prototypi…