title: Economical and green synthesis of bagasse-derived fluorescent carbon dots for biomedical applications.
abstract: Carbon quantum dots (CDs) are promising nanomaterials in biomedical, photocatalytical and photoelectronic applications. However, determining how to explore an ideal precursor for a renewable carbon resource is still an interesting challenge. Here, for the first time, we report that renewable wastes of bagasse as a new precursor were prepared for fluorescent CDs by a hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) process. The characterization results show that such bagasse-derived CDs are monodispersed, contain quasi spherical particles with a diameter of about 1.8 nm and exhibit favorable photoluminescence properties, super-high photostability and good dispersibility in water. Most importantly, bagasse-derived CDs have good biocompatibility and can be easily and quickly internalized by living cancer cells; they can also be used for multicolour biolabeling and bioimaging in cancer cells. It is suggested that bagasse-derived CDs might have potential applications in biomedical and photoelectronic fields.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fengyi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Miaomiao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jianan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xinyi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Zhang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Genbao
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Qixiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gong
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002482:Cellulose / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D006801:Humans; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D002244:Carbon; D002482:Cellulose; C027433:bagasse