Synthesis of Cellulose-Based Carbon Dots for Bioimaging

Photoluminescent carbon dots (CDs) as a novel carbon-based material have attracted much more attention. Here, we reported the synthesis of cellulose-based carbon dots by a facile and highly reproducible new rote from cellulose and urea. The as-obtained CDs were characterized via FTIR, XPS, TEM, UV-vis and PL spectra. The as-obtained CDs showed high nitrogen content, stable and excitation-independent blue-green photo-luminesce. The quantum yield (QY) of the synthesized CDs is up to 21.7%. Furthermore, the low cytotoxicity and great bio-compatibility of CDs were proved via CCK-8 assay and fluorescence bioimaging. The results indicate that the cellulose-based CDs show promising applications for bioimaging in living cell systems.