Premium
One‐Pot Synthesis of Highly Luminescent Carbon Quantum Dots and Their Nontoxic Ingestion by Zebrafish for In Vivo Imaging
Author(s) -
Huang YiFan,
Zhou Xin,
Zhou Rong,
Zhang Hong,
Kang KaiBin,
Zhao Min,
Peng Yong,
Wang Qiang,
Zhang HaoLi,
Qiu WenYuan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201400011
Subject(s) - passivation , nanotechnology , materials science , photoluminescence , quantum dot , in vivo , luminescence , zebrafish , surface modification , nanodot , preclinical imaging , fluorescence , hela , optoelectronics , cell , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , layer (electronics) , gene , physics , quantum mechanics
Photoluminescent carbon and/or silicon‐based nanodots have attracted ever increasing interest. Accordingly, a myriad of synthetic methodologies have been developed to fabricate them, which unfortunately, however, frequently involve relatively tedious steps, such as initial surface passivation and subsequent functionalization. Herein, we describe a green and sustainable synthetic strategy to combine these procedures into one step and to produce highly luminescent carbon quantum dots (CQDs), which can also be easily fabricated into flexible thin films with intense luminescence for future roll‐to‐roll manufacturing of optoelectronic devices. The as‐synthesized CQDs exhibited enhanced cellular permeability and low or even noncytotoxicity for cellular applications, as corroborated by confocal fluorescence imaging of HeLa cells as well as cell viability measurements. Most strikingly, zebrafish were directly fed with CQDs for in vivo imaging, and mortality and morphologic analysis indicated ingestion of the CQDs posed no harm to the living organisms. Hence, the multifunctional CQDs potentially provide a rich pool of tools for optoelectronic and biomedical applications.