Synthesis of ecofriendly fluorescent carbon dots and their biomedical and environmental applications

Abstract

Green Synthesis of nanoparticles is an emerging field with enormous advantages over conventional synthesis methods. Herein we have reported a green method for the preparation of water soluble polydisperse carbon dots (c-dots) from Cocos nucifera frond pinnae by a modified version of the 'single step hydrothermal carbonization'. C-dots having blue emission were obtained with this method and we further evaluated the effect of metal ions interactions on c-dots, as a sharp decrease in photoluminescence was observed. The synthesized c-dots were found bioactive against B.subtilis, M. smegmatis and S. aureus as determined by the well diffusion assay. We also explored nanotheranostic applications of c-dots as biosensor matrix in DNA hybridization sensor for pancreatic cancer and in bioimaging of cancer cells. This study demonstrated that c-dots can be explored for numerous biomedical and environmental applications in a variety of fields owing to the cost effective synthesis, biocompatibility and excellent physico-chemical properties.