Light-Activated Polymer Nanocomposites Doped with a New Type of Carbon Quantum Dots for Antibacterial Applications

Abstract

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are relatively new carbon allotrope. It triggered an investigation of new CQD research of synthesis, properties CQDs, and applications. CQDs are quasispherical carbon particles with a size less than 10 nm with crystalline sp2 cores of graphite and quantum effects. A subclass of CQDs are graphene quantum dots (GQDs), and they have a structure of one or several graphene layers with diameter < 10 nm with higher crystallinity than CQDs. CQDs also play an important role in medicine. CQDs are used in intracellular ion detection, toxin detection, pathogen, vitamin, enzyme, protein, nucleic acid, and biological pH value determination. Despite the broad range of biomedical applications, we would like to focus on antibacterial properties of pure CQDs and their polymer composites. The antibacterial effect of CQDs is based on noninvasive photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT can cause a specific biological response on the cellular or subcellular level, such as apoptosis, programmed death, or necrosis, a nonprogrammed pathway. CQDs are a very promising new antibacterial nanoparticles.