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Two-photon-excited near-infrared emissive carbon dots as multifunctional agents for fluorescence imaging and photothermal therapy

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Abstract

C dots (CDs) have shown great potential in bioimaging and phototherapy. However, it is challenging to manipulate their fluorescent properties and therapeutic efficacy to satisfy the requirements for clinic applications. In this study, we prepared S, Se-codoped CDs via a hydrothermal method and demonstrated that the doping resulted in excitation wavelength-independent near-infrared (NIR) emissions of the CDs, with peaks at 731 and 820 nm. Significantly, the CDs exhibited a photothermal conversion efficiency of ~58.2%, which is the highest reported value for C nanostructures and is comparable to that of Au nanostructures. Moreover, the CDs had a large two-photon absorption cross section (~30,045 GM), which allowed NIR emissions and the photothermal conversion of the CDs through the two-photon excitation (TPE) mechanism. In vitro and in vivo tests suggested that CDs can function as new multifunctional phototheranostic agents for the TPE fluorescence imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the General Research Fund of Hong Kong (No. 11338516), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51572269 and 51672230).

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Author notes

  1. Minhuan Lan and Shaojing Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Minhuan Lan, Shaojing Zhao, Zhenyu Zhang, Li Yan, Jinfeng Zhang, Chun-Sing Lee & Wenjun Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Liang Guo, Guangle Niu, Junfang Zhao, Hongyan Zhang & Pengfei Wang

  3. School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Pengfei Wang

  4. Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Guangyu Zhu

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  1. Minhuan Lan
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  4. Li Yan
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Correspondence to Pengfei Wang or Wenjun Zhang.

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Two-photon-excited near-infrared emissive carbon dots as multifunctional agents for fluorescence imaging and photothermal therapy

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Lan, M., Zhao, S., Zhang, Z. et al. Two-photon-excited near-infrared emissive carbon dots as multifunctional agents for fluorescence imaging and photothermal therapy. Nano Res. 10, 3113–3123 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1528-0

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