Large scale synthesis of photoluminescent carbon nanodots and their application for bioimaging

Carbon nanodots (CDs) have been synthesized at gram scale with a high yield (41.8%) by carbonization of sucrose with oil acid in one simple step. The synthesized CDs are monodisperse with a narrow size distribution (average 1.84 nm in size), and show a high fluorescence quantum yield (21.6%) without passivation. The PL intensity of the obtained CDs is pH independent over a range of 2–8. Besides, their PL intensity remains unchanged even after six hours of UV excitation and six months of storage, exhibiting excellent stability. The obtained CDs have been used for cell imaging. The results demonstrate that the prepared CDs have great potential for real applications.