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Fast, environmentally friendly synthesis of blue-luminescent carbon quantum dots (C-dots) at ambient conditions (i.e., room temperature and atmospheric pressure) is presented. The as synthesized C-dots are of a relatively size uniform distribution with a peak at approximately 2.4 nm. The photoluminescence show that the emission peak of C-dots shifts from 443 nm to more than 456 nm as the excitation sources is varied from 360-410 nm. The majority of C-dots produced are predominantly graphitic in nature based on the Raman spectroscopy. The plasma-assisted non-equilibrium reactive chemistry induces chemical reactions and accelerates the C-dot formation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, fast, energy and labour efficient, carbon dot synthesis method involving only the mixing of a saccharide and base is presented. Uniform, green luminescent carbon dots with an average size of 3.5 nm were obtained, without the need for additional energy input or external heating. Detection of formation moment for fructose-NaOH-produced carbon dots is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to their unique mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties, carbon nanostructures including carbon nanotubes and graphenes show great promise for advancing the fields of biology and medicine.Many reports have demonstrated the promise of these carbon nanostructures and their hybrid structures (composites with polymers, ceramics, andmetal nanoparticles, etc.) for a variety of biomedical areas ranging from biosensing, drug delivery, and diagnostics, to cancer treatment, tissue engineering, and bioterrorism prevention. However, the issue of the safety and toxicity of these carbon nanostructures, which is vital to their use as diagnostic and therapeutic tools in biomedical fields, has not been completely resolved. This paper aims to provide a summary of the features of carbon nanotube and graphene-based materials and current research progress in biomedical applications. We also highlight the current opinions within the scientific community on the toxicity and safety of these carbon structures [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]