Mancini Federica, Menichetti Arianna, Degli Esposti Lorenzo, Montesi Monica, Panseri Silvia, Bassi Giada, Montalti Marco, Lazzarini Laura, Adamiano Alessio, Iafisco Michele
Institute of Science, Technology and Sustainability for Ceramics (ISSMC), National Research Council (CNR), 48018 Faenza, Italy.
Department of Chemistry "Giacomo Ciamician", Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
J Funct Biomater. 2023 Feb 7;14(2):90. doi: 10.3390/jfb14020090.
Herein, following a circular economy approach, we present the synthesis of luminescent carbon dots via the thermal treatment of chestnut and peanut shells, which are abundant carbon-rich food industry by-products. As-synthesized carbon dots have excellent water dispersibility thanks to their negative surface groups, good luminescence, and photo-stability. The excitation-emission behaviour as well as the surface functionalization of these carbon dots can be tuned by changing the carbon source (chestnuts or peanuts) and the dispersing medium (water or ammonium hydroxide solution). Preliminary in vitro biological data proved that the samples are not cytotoxic to fibroblasts and can act as luminescent probes for cellular imaging. In addition, these carbon dots have a pH-dependent luminescence and may, therefore, serve as cellular pH sensors. This work paves the way towards the development of more sustainable carbon dot production for biomedical applications.
在此，我们采用循环经济方法，通过对栗子壳和花生壳进行热处理来合成发光碳点，这两种壳是丰富的富含碳的食品工业副产品。合成的碳点由于其表面带负电基团、良好的发光性和光稳定性而具有出色的水分散性。通过改变碳源（栗子或花生）和分散介质（水或氢氧化铵溶液），可以调节这些碳点的激发-发射行为以及表面功能化。初步的体外生物学数据证明，这些样品对成纤维细胞无细胞毒性，可作为细胞成像的发光探针。此外，这些碳点具有pH依赖性发光，因此可作为细胞pH传感器。这项工作为开发更可持续的用于生物医学应用的碳点生产铺平了道路。
