Abstract
Nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped carbon dots (N,P-C-dots) were prepared by microwave-assisted thermolysis of N-phosphonomethyl aminodiacetic acid and ethylenediamine. N,P-C-dots exhibit bright blue fluorescence with an emission maximum at 418 nm. Experimental results show that they have uniform dispersion with the average size of 3.3 nm, a fluorescence decay time of 7.8 ns, a quantum yield of 17.5 %, low toxicity, and good stability. All these make them an excellent choice as a fluorescent nanomaterial for use in cellular imaging.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Demchenko AP (2013) Nanoparticles and nanocomposites for fluorescence sensing and imaging. Methods Appl Fluoresc 1:022001
Zuo P, Xiao D, Gao M, Peng J, Pan R, Xia Y, He H (2014) Single-step preparation of fluorescent carbon nanoparticles, and their application as a fluorometric probe for quercetin. Microchim Acta 181:1309
Wolfbeis OS (2015) An overview of nanoparticles commonly used in fluorescent bioimaging. Chem Soc Rev 44:4743
Wang Q, Huang X, Long Y, Wang X, Zhang H, Zhu R, Liang L, Teng P, Zheng H (2013) Hollow luminescent carbon dots for drug delivery. Carbon 59:192
Zhao A, Zhao C, Li M, Ren J, Qu X (2014) Ionic liquids as precursors for highly luminescent, surface-different nitrogen-doped carbon dots used for label-free detection of Cu2+/Fe3+ and cell imaging. Anal Chim Acta 809:128
Li H, Liu R, Lian S, Liu Y, Huang H, Kang Z (2013) Near-infrared light controlled photocatalytic activity of carbon quantum dots for highly selective oxidation reaction. Nanoscale 5:3289
Chen J, Gao Y, Xu Z, Wu G, Chen Y, Zhu C (2006) A novel fluorescent array for mercury (II) ion in aqueous solution with functionalized cadmium selenide nanoclusters. Anal Chim Acta 577:77
Ding C, Zhu A, Tian Y (2014) Functional surface engineering of c-dots for fluorescent biosensing and in vivo bioimaging. Acc Chem Res 47:20
Zhu S, Meng Q, Wang L, Zhang J, Song Y, Jin H, Zhang K, Sun H, Wang H, Yang B (2013) Highly photoluminescent carbon dots for multicolor patterning, sensors, and bioimaging. Angew Chem 125:4045
Ahmed GHG, Laino RB, Calzon JAG, Garcia MED (2014) Highly fluorescent carbon dots as nanoprobes for sensitive and selective determination of 4-nitrophenol in surface waters. Microchim Acta 182:51
Xu X, Ray R, Gu Y, Ploehn HJ, Gearheart L, Raker K, Scrivens WA (2004) Electrophoretic analysis and purification of fluorescent single-walled carbon nanotube fragments. J Am Chem Soc 126:12736
Zhou J, Yang Y, Zhang C-Y (2013) A low-temperature solid-phase method to synthesize highly fluorescent carbon nitride dots with tunable emission. Chem Commun 49:8605
Sadhanala HK, Khatei J, Nanda KK (2014) Facile hydrothermal synthesis of carbon nanoparticles and possible application as white light phosphors and catalysts for the reduction of nitrophenol. RSC Adv 4:11481
Wang F, Gu Z, Lei W, Wang W, Xia X, Hao Q (2014) Graphene quantum dots as a fluorescent sensing platform for highly efficient detection of copper (ii) ions. Sensors Actuators B Chem 190:516
Shi Q-Q, Li Y-H, Xu Y, Wang Y, Yin X-B, He X-W, Zhang Y-K (2014) High-yield and high-solubility nitrogen-doped carbon dots: formation, fluorescence mechanism and imaging application. RSC Adv 4:1563
Zhai X, Zhang P, Liu C, Bai T, Li W, Dai L, Liu W (2012) Highly luminescent carbon nanodots by microwave-assisted pyrolysis. Chem Commun 48:7955
Liu H, He Z, Jiang L-P, Zhu J-J (2015) Microwave-assisted synthesis of wavelength-tunable photoluminescent carbon nanodots and their potential applications. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 7:4913
Shi L, Li X, Li Y, Wen X, Li J, Choi MMF, Dong C, Shuang S (2015) Naked oats-derived dual-emission carbon nanodots for ratiometric sensing and cellular imaging. Sensors Actuators B Chem 210:533
Wu P, Yan X-P (2013) Doped quantum dots for chemo/biosensing and bioimaging. Chem Soc Rev 42:5489
Qu S, Wang X, Lu Q, Liu X, Wang L (2012) A biocompatible fluorescent ink based on water-soluble luminescent carbon nanodots. Angew Chem 124:12381
Mooradian A (1969) Photoluminescence of metals. Phys Rev Lett 22:185
Sun D, Ban R, Zhang P-H, Wu G-H, Zhang J-R, Zhu J-J (2013) Hair fiber as a precursor for synthesizing of sulfur- and nitrogen-co-doped carbon dots with tunable luminescence properties. Carbon 64:424
Wang L, Yin Y, Jain A, Zhou HS (2014) Aqueous phase synthesis of highly luminescent, nitrogen-doped carbon dots and their application as bioimaging agents. Langmuir 30:14270
Shen L, Zhang L, Chen M, Chen X, Wang J (2013) The production of ph-sensitive photoluminescent carbon nanoparticles by the carbonization of polyethylenimine and their use for bioimaging. Carbon 55:343
Wang J, Sahu S, Sonkar SK, Tackett Ii KN, Sun KW, Liu Y, Maimaiti H, Anilkumar P, Sun Y-P (2013) Versatility with carbon dots - from overcooked bbq to brightly fluorescent agents and photocatalysts. RSC Adv 3:15604
Wu ZL, Zhang P, Gao MX, Liu CF, Wang W, Leng F, Huang CZ (2013) One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of highly luminescent nitrogen-doped amphoteric carbon dots for bioimaging from bombyx mori silk - natural proteins. J Mater Chem B 1:2868
Zhou J, Sheng Z, Han H, Zou M, Li C (2012) Facile synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots using watermelon peel as a carbon source. Mater Lett 66:222
Qi Y-X, Zhang M, Fu Q-Q, Liu R, Shi G-Y (2013) Highly sensitive and selective fluorescent detection of cerebral lead (II) based on graphene quantum dot conjugates. Chem Commun 49:10599
Kwon W, Rhee S-W (2012) Facile synthesis of graphitic carbon quantum dots with size tunability and uniformity using reverse micelles. Chem Commun 48:5256
Zhou L, He B, Huang J (2013) Amphibious fluorescent carbon dots: one-step green synthesis and application for light-emitting polymer nanocomposites. Chem Commun 49:8078
Peng J, Gao W, Gupta BK, Liu Z, Romero-Aburto R, Ge L, Song L, Alemany LB, Zhan X, Gao G, Vithayathil SA, Kaipparettu BA, Marti AA, Hayashi T, Zhu J-J, Ajayan PM (2012) Graphene quantum dots derived from carbon fibers. Nano Lett 12:844
Wang W, Lu Y-C, Huang H, Feng J-J, Chen J-R, Wang A-J (2014) Facile synthesis of water-soluble and biocompatible fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots for cell imaging. Analyst 139:1692
Bhunia SK, Saha A, Maity AR, Ray SC, Jana NR (2013) Carbon nanoparticle-based fluorescent bioimaging probes. Sci Rep 3:1473
Lu W, Qin X, Liu S, Chang G, Zhang Y, Luo Y, Asiri AM, Al-Youbi AO, Sun X (2012) Economical, green synthesis of fluorescent carbon nanoparticles and their use as probes for sensitive and selective detection of mercury (II) ions. Anal Chem 84:5351
Huang H, Lv J-J, Zhou D-L, Bao N, Xu Y, Wang A-J, Feng J-J (2013) One-pot green synthesis of nitrogen-doped carbon nanoparticles as fluorescent probes for mercury ions. RSC Adv 3:21691
Wang L, Zhou HS (2014) Green synthesis of luminescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots from milk and its imaging application. Anal Chem 86:8902
Sun H, Wu L, Gao N, Ren J, Qu X (2013) Improvement of photoluminescence of graphene quantum dots with a biocompatible photochemical reduction pathway and its bioimaging application. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 5:1174
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21275130, 21475118, and 21175118).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOC 1108 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Li, H., Shao, FQ., Zou, SY. et al. Microwave-assisted synthesis of N,P-doped carbon dots for fluorescent cell imaging. Microchim Acta 183, 821–826 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-015-1714-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-015-1714-2