Facile synthesis of red-emissive carbon dots with theoretical understanding for cellular imaging

Xian Wei; Dan Yang; Liming Wang; Zhuoqi Wen; Zhongjie Cui; Le Wang; Haiyang He; Wanlu Zhang; Zhongkang Han; Shiliang Mei; Songnan Qu; Ruiqian Guo

doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2022.112869

Facile synthesis of red-emissive carbon dots with theoretical understanding for cellular imaging

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2022 Dec:220:112869. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2022.112869. Epub 2022 Sep 22.

Authors

Xian Wei¹, Dan Yang², Liming Wang³, Zhuoqi Wen⁴, Zhongjie Cui², Le Wang⁴, Haiyang He², Wanlu Zhang², Zhongkang Han⁵, Shiliang Mei⁶, Songnan Qu⁷, Ruiqian Guo⁸

Affiliations

¹ College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Flexible Electronics, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China.
² Institute for Electric Light Sources, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
³ Joint Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Taipa 999078, China.
⁴ Academy for Engineering and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁶ Institute for Electric Light Sources, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China. Electronic address: meishiliang@fudan.edu.cn.
⁷ Joint Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Taipa 999078, China. Electronic address: songnanqu@um.edu.mo.
⁸ Institute for Electric Light Sources, School of Information Science and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Academy for Engineering and Technology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Zhongshan - Fudan Joint Innovation Center, Zhongshan, 528437, China; Yiwu Research Institute of Fudan University, Chengbei Road, Yiwu City, Zhejiang 322000, China. Electronic address: rqguo@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 36244132
DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2022.112869

Abstract

Recently, red emissive carbon dots (R-CDs) have drawn widespread attention on account of their desirable fluorescence properties and good biocompatibility. Despite great efforts, facile synthesis of R-CDs for cellular imaging remains challenging and the fluorescence mechanism of R-CDs is still elusive. Herein, p-phenylenediamine-derived R-CDs with excitation-independency were successfully obtained through a facile solvothermal approach together with proportional precipitation. The fluorescent solvatochromism of R-CDs is realized, while high polarity leads to higher degree of dipole interaction between R-CDs and different solvents, favoring for emissive red-shift. Furthermore, density functional theory is adopted to explore the optical and electronic characteristics of some polycyclic aromatic molecules. Among different configurations, pyridine nitrogen and carbonyl bonds could relatively increase the charge density and significantly narrow the band gap, which can provide a crucial theoretical basis for the precise preparation of R-CDs. Moreover, R-CDs possess favorable cellular imaging ability, which indicates their potential for a promising candidate as fluorescence probes in bioimaging.

Keywords: Carbon dots; Cellular imaging; Density functional theory (DFT) calculation; Red emission.

MeSH terms

Carbon* / chemistry
Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
Nitrogen
Quantum Dots* / chemistry
Solvents / chemistry
Spectrometry, Fluorescence

Substances

Carbon
Nitrogen
Solvents
Fluorescent Dyes