Construction of green fluorescent carbon dots with high quantum yield for cancer cell recognition and Fe3+ detection

Herein, green-emitting nitrogen-doped carbon dots (CDs) were prepared by one-step solvothermal method. After purified by precipitation and silica column chromatography procedures, the pure CDs had uniform particle size and excellent fluorescence performance. Upon excitation at 430 nm wavelength, the CDs exhibited the maximum emission at 530 nm with absolute quantum yield (QY) of 16.5% in water. The CDs showed low cytotoxicity, remarkable biocompatibility to three cell lines (MCF-7, QSG-7701, EC cells) and good photostability to PH. Besides, different labeling distributions of CDs in cancer cells (MCF-7) and normal cells (QSG-7701) were achieved so that they could be used to identify cancer cell. Moreover, the CDs had good selectivity to detect Fe3+ ion in aqueous solution. The above hold them have great potential application in bioimaging and environmental monitoring.