Xianfeng Zhang,Jingbo Lu,Xiaoli Zhou,Chunyan Guo,Chuanhu Wang
We rapidly prepared N-doped photoluminescent carbon nanodots (CNDs) with the one-step microwave irradiation method using diammonium hydrogen citrate as the carbon source. The as-prepared CNDs possessed quasispherical morphology and a high quantum yield of about 26.8%, which was higher than the CNDs obtained by most other microwave-assisted methods. Moreover, the luminescent CNDs could be efficiently uptaken by BGC-823 cells and CT26.WT cells, and exhibited low cytotoxicity and favorable biocompatibility, making them suitable candidates for cell imaging . In addition, the CNDs could be utilized for Fe 3+ ions sensitive detection with a detection limit of 180 nM.
Xue-Hui Shi,Ying-Ying Dai,Lei Wang,Zhi-Gang Wang,Shu-Lin Liu
Near-infrared (NIR) in vivo fluorescence imaging has exhibited the distinct advantage of high optical resolution at deeper penetration into biological tissues. Ag2Te quantum dots (QDs), with a relatively narrow band gap, show great promise for fluorescence emission at long wavelengths in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window for bioimaging. However, existing Ag2Te QDs have severely hindered the application of in vivo bioimaging due to their poor fluorescence brightness and stability, so it is important to prepare Ag2Te QDs with high quantum yield and stability as well as high biocompatibility in the NIR-II window. Herein, we designed an integrated method for the preparation of water-soluble Ag2Te QDs by mutual adaptation of QD synthesis and surface modification. We first synthesized high-quality Ag2Te QDs with different NIR-II emission wavelengths and the photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) up to 6.51% by rapidly injecting the TBP-Te precursor into a hot solvent to form a highly fluorescent Ag2Te core. Then water-dispersible Ag2Te QDs were obtained by direct exchange of the hydrophobic Ag2Te QD surface ligands with thiol ligands. The PLQY of the water-soluble Ag2Te QDs obtained by this method can still be maintained at 4.94%. With these highly bright and stable Ag2Te QDs, the abdominal vessels, hindlimb arterial vessels, venous vessels, sacral lymph nodes, and tumor vessels were visualized non-invasively in vivo in the NIR-II window in mice. The results demonstrate that the integrated strategy of QD synthesis and modification provides valuable technical support for further in-depth applications of Ag2Te QDs.