Multifaceted carbon dots: the next generation nano- platform for optical and biomedical applications

Abstract

The investigations embodied in the thesis entitled “MULTIFACETED CARBON DOTS: THE NEXT GENERATION NANO- PLATFORM FOR OPTICAL AND BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS” were initiated in October 2016 in the Department of Biosciences & Bio-Medical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore. This thesis aims to design and construct multifunctional carbon dots for biomedical and bio-sensing applications. The focal points of the thesis are as follows 1. Sustainable carbon dots from green and chemical sources for explosive detection, chemical sensing, and pharmaceutical sense. 2. Modulation of fluorescence performance of carbon dots through functional group tuning for bioimaging and intracellular sensing. 3. Surface engineering of carbon dots for their diversified applications in environment safety, anticancer agent, photosensitizer, and microbial disinfection. 4. To develop carbon dots as efficient carriers for drug delivery in biological systems. This thesis comprises six chapters. It begins with a general introduction to the topic and literature review (Chapter 1), followed by the use of green carbon dots for photo-triggered theranostics, selective and sensitive sensing of extracellular and intracellular iron (III), and multicolor live-cell imaging (Chapter 2), synthesis of photoactivatable carbon dots for picric acid detection and light-induced bacterial inactivation (Chapter 3), Synthesis of Fe-N@Carbon dots and Fe3O4-Carbon dot hybrid nanoparticles for doxycycline detection and degradation (Chapter 4) and to construct a sustainable fluorescent system for the delivery of 5-fluorouracil in vitro, Co2+ ion detection, and cell imaging (Chapter 5). The thesis outlines the future perspective in (Chapter 6).