Simple Approach to Synthesize Amino-Functionalized Carbon Dots by Carbonization of Chitosan

Xin Liu; Jinhui Pang; Feng Xu; Xueming Zhang

doi:10.1038/srep31100

Simple Approach to Synthesize Amino-Functionalized Carbon Dots by Carbonization of Chitosan

Sci Rep. 2016 Aug 5:6:31100. doi: 10.1038/srep31100.

Authors

Xin Liu¹, Jinhui Pang¹, Feng Xu¹, Xueming Zhang¹

Affiliation

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Lignocellulosic Chemistry, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, P. R. China.

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) as a new series of fluorescent nanomaterials have drawn great attention in recent years owning to their unique properties. In this paper, a simple carbonization approach to synthesize amino-functionalized CDs was developed by using chitosan as the carbon precursor. The as-prepared CDs possessed desirable amino function group on their surface and exhibited bright luminescence with absolute quantum yield (QY) of 4.34%, excitation-, pH-dependent and up-conversion fluorescence behaviors. Furthermore, we have investigated the cytotoxicity and biocompatibility of the as-prepared CDs, which demonstrated that the as-prepared CDs have the potential applications in biosensing, cellular imaging and drug delivery.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acids*
Biocompatible Materials*
Biosensing Techniques / methods
Carbon*
Chitosan*
Cytological Techniques / methods
Drug Delivery Systems
Nanostructures / chemistry*

Substances

Amino Acids
Biocompatible Materials
Carbon
Chitosan