Central Laboratory, Linyi Central Hospital, Linyi, 276400, China.
China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China.
J Fluoresc. 2021 Mar;31(2):509-516. doi: 10.1007/s10895-020-02678-w. Epub 2021 Jan 15.
Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles exhibit merits in terms of photochemical stability, functional modification flexibility and excellent biocompatibility. Currently, fluorescent carbon nanoparticles are often obtained by bottom-up or up-bottom strategies. So far, there has been no literature concerning spontaneous formation of fluorescent carbon nanoparticles. However, we have successfully found that fluorescent carbon nanoparticles can form spontaneously in the glutaraldehyde solution. Then further investigations were conducted on the storage time, pH and temperature, which could affect the fluorescence intensity of glutaraldehyde solution. The results indicate that the value of the fluorescence intensity will increase with the extension of the storage time. Moreover, the fluorescence mechanism of the glutaraldehyde solution was studied according to its properties and experiment results. Transmission electron microscopy was used to demonstrate nanoparticles in the glutaraldehyde solution. It's assumed that such phenomenon is probably attributed to the conjugated structure resulting from the polymerization of glutaraldehyde and the quantum confinement effect owing to the nanoparticles formed by the aggregation of polymers. Therefore, the spontaneous fluorescence produced by glutaraldehyde solution provides a simple and environmentally-friendly way to prepare fluorescent carbon nanoparticles.
荧光碳纳米粒子具有光化学稳定性、功能修饰灵活性和良好的生物相容性等优点。目前，荧光碳纳米粒子通常通过自上而下或自下而上的策略获得。到目前为止，还没有关于自发形成荧光碳纳米粒子的文献。然而，我们已经成功地发现，荧光碳纳米粒子可以在戊二醛溶液中自发形成。然后进一步研究了影响戊二醛溶液荧光强度的储存时间、pH 值和温度。结果表明，荧光强度值随储存时间的延长而增加。此外，根据戊二醛溶液的性质和实验结果，研究了其荧光机制。利用透射电子显微镜证明了戊二醛溶液中的纳米粒子。据推测，这种现象可能归因于戊二醛聚合产生的共轭结构和聚合物聚集形成纳米粒子引起的量子限制效应。因此，戊二醛溶液产生的自发荧光为制备荧光碳纳米粒子提供了一种简单、环保的方法。
