An Aqueous Route to Multicolor Photoluminescent Carbon Dots Using Silica Spheres as Carriers

Carbon lights up: A facile chemical method yields multicolor photoluminescent carbon dots derived from polymer/silica nanocomposites, which were prepared using surfactant-modified silica spheres as carriers and resols (phenol/formaldehyde resins) as carbon precursor (see picture). The surface-passivated carbon dots show good biocompatibility as potential bioimaging agents offering nanometer-scale resolution.