Nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) with fluorescence excitation/emission maxima at 365/450 nm were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal approach. The dots possess remarkable photostability, fluorescence blinking and good biocompatibility, and this favors utilization in stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). A spatial resolution down to ~60 nm was achieved when imaging HeLa cells using 647-nm laser excitation. This opens new possibilities for various super-resolution techniques based on stochastic optical switching. The remarkable optical properties of the N-CDs also enable them to be applied as invisible security ink for use in patterning, information storage and anti-counterfeiting. Further, it is found that the fluorescence of the N-CDs can be quenched by curcumin with high efficiency due to a combination of inner filter effect and static quenching. Based on this, a fluorometric assay with a detection limit of 21 ng mL−1 was developed for the determination of curcumin. [Figure not available: see fulltext.].
CITATION STYLE
Bu, L., Luo, T., Peng, H., Li, L., Long, D., Peng, J., & Huang, J. (2019). One-step synthesis of N-doped carbon dots, and their applications in curcumin sensing, fluorescent inks, and super-resolution nanoscopy. Microchimica Acta, 186(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3762-5
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