Fluorescent carbon dots, a new member of the carbon nanomaterial family, have been drawing attention for use as optoelectronic devices, biological labelling and biomedicine, as an alternative to metal containing quantum dots (nanocrystals).
Scientists in China have synthesised them in a green way: with low heat, in one pot, in water, using ascorbic acid as the precursor.
Read the ‘HOT’ Nanoscale article:
One-pot green synthesis of optically pH-sensitive carbon dots with upconversion luminescence
X Jia, J Li and E Wang,
Nanoscale, 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2nr31319g
