A diagram in the research article on carbon dots written by a Shanxi University research team and published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a publication of the American Chemical Society [Photo/sxu.edu.cn]

Doctor Jiao Yuan, a member of a research team led by Dong Chuan, a professor at the Institute of Environmental Science of Shanxi University, recently published a research article about carbon dots in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a publication of the American Chemical Society.

Carbon quantum dots, which are small carbon nanoparticles (less than 10 nm in size) with some form of surface passivation, are widely used in analytical testing, biomedicine, anti-counterfeiting ink, confidential printing, and environmental monitoring due to their excellent chemical and physical properties, good biocompatibility, and low toxicity.

The article describes Jiao Yuan and her team’s work on the one-step synthesis of lable-free ratiometric fluorescence carbon dots, which are used to detect silver ions and glutathione and for detailed cellular imaging.

The team was able to quickly build a carbon quantum dot-based ratiometric fluorescent sensor by using dyes. The sensor improves the sensitivity of nanomaterials to small biomolecules by allowing for the reversible switching of orange and green dual fluorescent emission channels.

Research on the luminescence principles of carbon quantum dots and their controllable preparation methods is essential to increasing the applicability of carbon quantum dots.

In recent years, the research team led by Dong Chuan has achieved a lot in the research and development of carbon quantum dots and their application in analysis and anti-counterfeiting technology. The team has had four research articles published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

These research achievements not only increase the possible uses of carbon nanomaterials, but also create a new direction for the application of traditional dyes to environmentally-friendly nanomaterials.