| Popis: |
In recent years, the development of carbon dot-based fluorescent nanoparticles for bioimaging applications has attracted the attention of scientific community. However, the functionality of the majority of these developed fluorescent systems is confined in to the blue-to-green region of the light spectrum, limiting their application as bioimaging agents. Here, we report the facile design and development of highly efficient two-photon excitable red-emissive carbon dots (D-CD) and demonstrate their high performance in bioimaging applications. Our comprehensive study on the effects of synthesis parameters on the photophysical and physicochemical properties of carbon dots demonstrated the importance of precursor selection and consideration of its molecular structure in developing red-emissive carbon dots. The developed D-CD is highly biocompatible and non-toxic, with remarkable photostability in cells under two-photon near-infrared excitation. The present study point to the great potential of D-CD as an efficient bioimaging agent for cellular biolabeling, long-term and real-time cellular imaging, and high-resolution deep-tissue imaging in complex biological systems. |
