An official website of the United States government
Carbon dots (CDots) are generally defined as small-carbon nanoparticles with surface organic functionalization and their classical synthesis is literally the functionalization of preexisting carbon nanoparticles. Other than these “classically defined CDots”, however, the majority of the dot samples reported in the literature were prepared by thermal carbonization of organic precursors in mostly “one-pot” processing. In this work, thermal processing of the selected precursors intended for carbonization was performed with conditions of 200 °C for 3 h, 330 °C for 6 h, and heating by microwave irradiation, yielding samples denoted as CS200, CS330, and CSMT, respectively. These samples are structurally different from the classical CDots and should be considered as “nano-carbon/organic hybrids”. Their optical spectroscopic properties were found comparable to those of the classical CDots, but very different in the related photoinduced antibacterial activities. Mechanistic origins of the divergence were explored, with the results suggesting major factors associated with the structural and morphological characteristics of the hybrids.
more »
« less
Stable Carbon Dots from Microwave-Heated Carbon Nanoparticles Generating Organic Radicals for In Situ Additions
Carbon dots (CDots) are small carbon nanoparticles with effective surface passivation by organic functionalization. In the reported work, the surface functionalization of preexisting small carbon nanoparticles with N-ethylcarbazole (NEC) was achieved by the NEC radical addition. Due to the major difference in microwave absorption between the carbon nanoparticles and organic species such as NEC, the nanoparticles could be selectively heated via microwave irradiation to enable the hydrogen abstraction in NEC to generate NEC radicals, followed by in situ additions of the radicals to the nanoparticles. The resulting NEC-CDots were characterized by microscopy and spectroscopy techniques including quantitative proton and 13C NMR methods. The optical spectroscopic properties of the dot sample were found to be largely the same as those of CDots from other organic functionalization schemes. The high structural stability of NEC-CDots benefiting from the radical addition functionalization is highlighted and discussed.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10405099
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- C
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2311-5629
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Carbon dots (CDots) are generally defined as small carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) with effective surface passivation, for which the classical synthesis is the functionalization of pre-existing CNPs with organic molecules. However, “dot” samples produced by “one-pot” thermal carbonization of organic precursors are also popular in the literature. These carbonization-produced samples may contain nano-carbon domains embedded in organic matters from the precursors that survived the thermal processing, which may be considered and denoted as “nano-carbon/organic hybrids”. Recent experimental evidence indicated that the two different kinds of dot samples are largely divergent in their photo-induced antibacterial functions. In this work, three representative carbonization-produced samples from the precursor of citric acid–oligomeric polyethylenimine mixture with processing conditions of 200 °C for 3 h (CS200), 330 °C for 6 h (CS330), and microwave heating (CSMT) were compared with the classically synthesized CDots on their photo-induced antiviral activities. The results suggest major divergences in the activities between the different samples. Interestingly, CSMT also exhibited significant differences between antibacterial and antiviral activities. The mechanistic origins of the divergences were explored, with the results of different antimicrobial activities among the hybrid samples rationalized in terms of the degree of carbonization in the sample production and the different sample structural and morphological characteristics.more » « less
-
Carbon “quantum” dots or carbon dots (CDots) exploit and enhance the intrinsic photoexcited state properties and processes of small carbon nanoparticles via effective nanoparticle surface passivation by chemical functionalization with organic species. The optical properties and photoinduced redox characteristics of CDots are competitive to those of established conventional semiconductor quantum dots and also fullerenes and other carbon nanomaterials. Highlighted here are major advances in the exploration of CDots for their serving as high-performance yet nontoxic fluorescence probes for one- and multi-photon bioimaging in vitro and in vivo, and for their uniquely potent antimicrobial function to inactivate effectively and efficiently some of the toughest bacterial pathogens and viruses under visible/natural or ambient light conditions. Opportunities and challenges in the further development of the CDots platform and related technologies are discussed.more » « less
-
For addressing the ever increasing challenge of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections, specifically designed and prepared carbon dots (CDots) of small carbon nanoparticles with surface functionalization–passivation by oligomeric polyethylenimine were found to be readily activated by visible light to effectively and efficiently inactivate MDR bacterial strains. The inactivation was evaluated under various combinations of experimental conditions (dot concentrations, light intensities, and treatment times), with the results collectively suggesting CDots as a new class of promising agents for combating MDR bacteria. Mechanistic origins and implications of the observed strong antibacterial actions as relevant to the photoexcited state processes in CDots and the photodynamically induced cellular damages leading to the death of the bacterial cells were explored, with the results discussed.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Carbon dots (CDots) are defined as surface-passivated small carbon nanoparticles, with the effective passivation generally achieved by organic functionalization. Photoexcited CDots are both potent electron donors and acceptors, and their characteristic bright and colorful fluorescence emissions make them excellent fluorescence sensors for organic analytes and metal ions. For the latter extraordinarily low detection limits based on extremely efficient quenching of fluorescence intensities by the targeted metal cations have been observed and reported in the literature. However, all of the dot samples in those reported studies were made from “one-pot” carbonization of organic precursors mostly under rather mild processing conditions, unlikely to be sufficient for the required level of carbonization. Those dot samples should therefore be more appropriately considered as “nano-carbon/organic hybrids”, characterized structurally as being highly porous and spongy, which must be playing a dominating role in the reported sensing results. In this study, we compared the dot samples from carbonization syntheses under similarly mild and also more aggressive processing conditions with the classically defined and structured CDots for the fluorescence sensing of copper( ii ) cations in aqueous solutions. The observed dramatic decoupling between quenching results for fluorescence intensities and lifetimes of the carbonization samples, with the former being extraordinary and the latter within the diffusion controlled limit, suggested that the quenching of fluorescence intensities was greatly affected by the higher local quencher concentrations than the bulk associated with the porous and spongy sample structures, especially for the sample from carbonization under too mild processing conditions. The major differences between the classical CDots and the nano-carbon/organic hybrids are highlighted, and the tradeoffs between sensitivity and accuracy or reproducibility in the use of the latter for fluorescence sensing are discussed.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/c9010005
