Easy synthesis of highly fluorescent carbon dots from tomato lycopene andtheir biological imaging applications

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs), a new member of the carbon nanomaterial family, have drawnconsiderable attention in the fields of optoelectronic devices, biological labeling andbiomedicine.Typically, CDs are small oxygenous carbon nanoparticles with sizes blow ۱۰ nm,displaying size and excitation wavelength dependent photoluminescence (PL) behavior.A simpleand green approach was developed to synthesize highly fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) usinglycopene as a carbon source.The CDs were characterized by excellent monodispersion, superiorphotostability, pH-independent emission, long fluorescence lifetime and high quantum yield(QY).CDs could be considered as a potential substitute for organic dyes or semiconductor quantumdots (SQDs) in biological imaging[۲-۳].

کلیدواژه ها:

Fluorescent carbon dots ، lycopene ، Green synthesis