One-Step Colloidal Synthesis of Non-Toxic Electroactive Carbon Dots with a Better Threshold Cytotoxicity and Cytocompatibility.

Carbon dots (CDs), because of their characteristic size (<10 nm) and highly fluorescent nature, can be internalized in biological cells or can be tagged to the key components of a living system. While these attributes can be potentially exploited for biomedical applications, the toxicity of CDs remains an important issue to be addressed. Both the synthesis approach and morphological attributes critically determine the dose-dependent toxicity and cytocompatibility of CDs. Against this perspective, we report herein a one-step colloidal synthesis of CDs using different reaction solvents that lead to the formation of three types of CDs (type I, type II, and type III CDs). The cytocompatibility and cellular uptake of CDs in human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) are dependent on the nature of functionalization and concomitantly on the type of precursors. In particular, type I CDs are synthesized using citric acid, hexadecylamine, and octadecene that are immiscible in culture media. The type II CDs synthesized using citric acid and octadecene emit green fluorescence at a 488 nm excitation and were found to be agglomerated when internalized in hMSCs, whereas the type III CDs, synthesized using citric acid and deionized water, exhibit an agglomeration-free behavior. Further, type III CDs show a wide particle distribution, wide emission bandwidth range of 280-700 nm, threshold toxicity of 1 mg/mL, and good cytocompatibility with hMSCs, much better than those in the published reports. When benchmarked against commercial graphene quantum dots, the as-synthesized type III CDs have better electrical conductivity and cytocompatibility at a given dosage. Thus, the electroactive nature of synthesized type III CDs along with their inherent fluorescent property and less cytotoxicity would enable their potential applications in bio-imaging, directional lineage commitment, and cell-based therapy.

Waste to white light: a sustainable method for converting biohazardous waste to broadband white LEDs.

The Covid-19 pandemic has generated a lot of non-degradable biohazardous plastic waste across the globe in the form of disposable surgical and N95 masks, gloves, face shields, syringes, bottles and plastic storage containers. In the present work we address this problem by recycling plastic waste to single system white light emitting carbon dots (CDs) using a pyrolytic method. The synthesized CDs have been embedded into a transparent polymer to form a carbon dot phosphor. This CD phosphor has a broad emission bandwidth of 205 nm and is stable against photo degradation for about a year. A white LED with CRI ∼70 and CIE co-ordinates of (0.25, 0.32) using the fabricated CD phosphor is reported. Further our phosphor is scalable and is environmentally sustainable, and will find wide application in next generation artificial lighting systems.

Excellent color rendering index single system white light emitting carbon dots for next generation lighting devices.

Recently, quantum dots (QDs) are finding enormous application in white light emitting diodes (WLEDs) and WLEDs with high color rendition are in high demand. QD-WLEDs use different color (Red, Blue, Green) emitting QDs to obtain white light. Use of different color emitting QDs affect purity of white light due to self-absorption losses and QD degradation, in the long run affecting color rendering index (CRI) of WLEDs. Herein, we report low cost, environment friendly, open air atmosphere synthesis of single system white light emitting carbon dots (CDs) with broad emission bandwidth ranging 116 -143 nm and quantum yields (QY) ~ 5 - 13 % in colloidal state by modifying CD surface. Furthermore, carbon dot polymer phosphor (CD-PDMS phosphor) is fabricated which emits white light under UV illumination with a record emission bandwidth of ~ 154 nm and QY ~ 16 % in solid state. Moreover, CD-PDMS phosphor exhibit excellent color rendering index (CRI) ~ 96, the highest reported so far with CIE co-ordinates (0.31, 0.33) that are quite akin to pure white light. Such high performances are achieved due to high quality of CDs and CD-PDMS polymer phosphors by precise control in passivation/functionalization of nanoparticle surface. This work will set platform for the application of CD-phosphor based WLEDs in lighting systems.

Highly Stable White-Light-Emitting Carbon Dot Synthesis Using a Non-coordinating Solvent.

In this article, synthesis of white-light-emitting, highly stable carbon dots (CDs) using a colloidal synthesis technique is reported. It has been observed that the use of a non-coordinating solvent plays a vital role in the successful fabrication of highly stable CDs. Dilution-independent emissive behavior in CDs is achieved. Excitation-energy-dependent emissive behavior is observed in CDs. However, by surface passivating the CD core by using hexadecylamine (HDA), excitation wavelength dependence of emission is successfully minimized. Surface-functionalized CDs (SFCDs) show blue to green light tunable emission with the change in synthesis conditions. HDA also plays an important role in achieving dilution-independent emission in SFCDs. Furthermore, the carbon dots synthesized are highly inert, and their emission spectra are unaffected on exposure to an open atmosphere for as long as 9 days. A new class of highly crystalline carbon dots called "carbon onion rings" is reported.