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Carbon dots and gold nanocluster–based hybrid microgels and their application in cells imaging

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Abstract

The hybrid microgels of carbon dots (CDs) and gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) have been prepared with precipitation polymerization. This hybrid microgels exhibited dual emissions thanks to organic integration of CDs and AuNCs for their unique fluorescence properties maintained in the microgel system. The fluorescence intensity ratio at 570 nm and 450 nm of the dual-emitting has a good linear response to temperature varying at the range of 20–50 °C. In addition, the ratio of the dual emissions intensity of the hybrid microgel shows well linear relationship at pH range between 9.0 and 11.0, which promises to be used as pH sensor. Furthermore, this hybrid microgel is inherently non-cytotoxic, which could be used as high efficient fluorescent probes in living cell with dual colors. Thus, this novel dual-emission hybrid microgel system can be used not only as a multifunctional sensor, but also to expand potential applications in biomedical engineering.

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Funding

This work received financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Project No. 2020JJ4303) and the Scientific Research Fund of Hunan Provincial Education Department (20A181).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Longping Zhou, Bo Liao, Shilin Yang & Shoujun Yi

  2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials for New Energy Storage and Conversion, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Bo Liao

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  1. Longping Zhou
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  2. Bo Liao
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  4. Shoujun Yi
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Correspondence to Bo Liao.

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Zhou, L., Liao, B., Yang, S. et al. Carbon dots and gold nanocluster–based hybrid microgels and their application in cells imaging. J Nanopart Res 24, 140 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-022-05528-x

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