Graphitic Dots Combining Photophysical Characteristics of Organic Molecular Fluorophores and Inorganic Quantum Dots

Raphaël de Boëver; Adam Langlois; Xu Li; Jerome P Claverie

doi:10.1021/jacsau.1c00055

Graphitic Dots Combining Photophysical Characteristics of Organic Molecular Fluorophores and Inorganic Quantum Dots

JACS Au. 2021 May 11;1(6):843-851. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00055. eCollection 2021 Jun 28.

Authors

Raphaël de Boëver^{1

2}, Adam Langlois³, Xu Li², Jerome P Claverie¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec J1K 2R1, Canada.
² Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (ASTAR), 2 Fusionopolis Way, Innovis, #08-03, Singapore 138634.
³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada.

Abstract

Thanks to their photophysical properties, both organic molecular fluorophores (MFs) and inorganic quantum dots (QDs) are extensively used for bioimaging applications. However, limitations such as photobleaching for the former or blinking, size, and toxicity for the latter still constitute a challenge for numerous applications. We report here that embedding MFs in graphitic carbon dots (GDs) results in fluorophores which entirely tackle this challenge. Characterized by ultranarrow, bright, and excitation-independent emission devoid of blinking and photobleaching, these hybrid-featured nanoparticles also demonstrate their unique photophysical performances at the single-nanoparticle scale, making them appealing candidates for bioimaging applications.