Multicolor biomass based carbon nanodots for bacterial imaging

Abstract Biomass-based carbon nanodots (CNDs) are becoming promising fluorescent materials due to their superior optical properties and excellent biocompatibility. However, most fluorescent CNDs are prepared under high temperatures with artificial chemicals as precursors. In this work, multicolor biomass-based CNDs have been prepared by employing natural biomass as precursors through an ultrasonic-assisted method at room temperature. The multicolor biomass-based CNDs can be prepared within 10 min, and cavitation produced by ultrasound in solution contributes to the polymerization of biomolecules into nanodots. The emission of the CNDs covers from blue to red region, with emission peaks centered at 410 nm, 520 nm and 670 nm, and the corresponding photoluminescence quantum yields of the CNDs are 11%, 12% and 28%, respectively. Furthermore, bacterial imaging by using the biomass-based CNDs as fluorescent imaging agent has been demonstrated. This work provides a convenient ultrasonic-assisted way for fabrication multicolor and eco-friendly biomass CNDs, demonstrating their application in bacterial imaging.