title: Red, green, and blue luminescence by carbon dots: full-color emission tuning and multicolor cellular imaging.
abstract: A facile approach for preparation of photoluminescent (PL) carbon dots (CDs) is reported. The three resulting CDs emit bright and stable red, green and blue (RGB) colors of luminescence, under a single ultraviolet-light excitation. Alterations of PL emission of these CDs are tentatively proposed to result from the difference in their particle size and nitrogen content. Interestingly, up-conversion (UC)PL of these CDs is also observed. Moreover, flexible full-color emissive PVA films can be achieved through mixing two or three CDs in the appropriate ratios. These CDs also show low cytotoxicity and excellent cellular imaging capability. The facile preparation and unique optical features make these CDs potentially useful in numerous applications such as light-emitting diodes, full-color displays, and multiplexed (UC)PL bioimaging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331 (P. R. China); Division of Functional Materials and Nano-Devices, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology & Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy Sciences, Ningbo 315201 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Aiguo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Congzhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Hengwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D058948:Cell Tracking / Q000379:methods*; D003116:Color; D006801:Humans; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D008163:Luminescent Measurements / Q000379:methods*; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D045663:Quantum Dots / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D049408:Luminescent Agents; D002244:Carbon
keywords: bioimaging; carbon dots; full-color emission; luminescence; materials science