Easy Synthesis and Imaging Applications of Cross-Linked Green Fluorescent Hollow Carbon Nanoparticles

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 400 - 409
• Main Authors: Fang, Youxing, Guo, Shaojun, Li, Dan, Zhu, Chengzhou, Ren, Wen, Dong, Shaojun, Wang, Erkang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 24.01.2012
• Subjects: Automation; Cadmium tellurides; Carbon; Cell Tracking - methods; Contrast Media; Cross-Linking Reagents - chemistry; Crosslinking; Fluorescence; Fluorescent Dyes; Green aspects; Microscopy - methods; Microscopy, Fluorescence - methods; Molecular Imaging - methods; Nanoparticles; Nanostructure; Nanotubes, Carbon - chemistry; Toxicity; one-step synthesis; fluorescent carbon nanoparticle; fluorescent bioimaging; hollow nanoparticles
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/nn2046373

We propose an ingenious method for synthesizing cross-linked hollow fluorescent carbon nanoparticles (HFCNs) with green emission by simply mixing acetic acid, water, and diphosphorus pentoxide. This is an automatic method without external heat treatment to rapidly produce large quantities of HFCNs, in contrast to other syntheses of fluorescent carbon nanoparticles that required high temperature, complicated operations, or long reaction times. Characterizations of HFCNs through high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, infrared/Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction indicate that abundant small oxygenous graphite domains existed and endowed the HFCNs with fluorescent properties. After simple post-treatments, the cross-linked HFCNs can be used for cell-imaging applications. Compared with traditional dyes and CdTe quantum dots, HFCNs are the superior fluorescent bioimaging agent according to their low toxicity, stability, and resistance to photobleaching. The HFCNs were also applied to watermark ink and fluorescent powder, showing their promising potentials for further wide usage.