Carbon dots obtained using hydrothermal treatment of formaldehyde. Cell imaging in vitro

Highly photoluminescent carbon dots have been prepared in a one step procedure by hydrothermal treatment of formaldehyde at 180 °C. They show green fluorescence under UV light exposure and emission spectra are centered at 440 nm. Fluorescence lifetimes comprise between 0.7 and 2.70 ns, when the synt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanoscale 2014-08, Vol.6 (15), p.9071-9077
Main Authors: Algarra, M, Pérez-Martín, M, Cifuentes-Rueda, M, Jiménez-Jiménez, J, Esteves da Silva, J C G, Bandosz, T J, Rodríguez-Castellón, E, López Navarrete, J T, Casado, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
3T3 Cells
Animals
Carbon
Carbon - chemistry
Cytoplasm - metabolism
Fluorescence
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde - chemistry
Hydrothermal treatment
Imaging
In vitro testing
Light
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Mice
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Nanoparticles
Nanoparticles - chemistry
Nanotechnology
Osteoblasts - cytology
Phagocytosis
Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Photoluminescence
Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectrum Analysis, Raman
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Summary:Highly photoluminescent carbon dots have been prepared in a one step procedure by hydrothermal treatment of formaldehyde at 180 °C. They show green fluorescence under UV light exposure and emission spectra are centered at 440 nm. Fluorescence lifetimes comprise between 0.7 and 2.70 ns, when the synthesis process lasted for 1-7 days. TEM images of nanoparticles showed a homogeneous size/shape distribution. When the thermal treatment process was carried out for a long time (30 days) formation of aggregates occurred. Carbon dots were further analyzed using (1)H and (13)C-NMR, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy techniques and XPS. Cell imaging of nanoparticles was carried out by using mouse MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts as a model. The nanoparticles were selectively localized in the cytoplasm without further functionalization and could be realized by cellular phagocytosis, so that the fluorescence of these can be used for live cell imaging in vitro.
ISSN:2040-3364
2040-3372
DOI:10.1039/c4nr01585a