Carbon Nanomaterials for Bioimaging, Bioanalysis, and Therapy

9 Recent Advances in Carbon Dots for Bioanalysis and the Future Perspectives

Jessica Fung Yee Fong¹ Yann Huey Ng¹ and Sing Muk Ng^1,2

¹ Swinburne Sarawak Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Malaysia

² Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Malaysia

9.1 Introduction

Nanomaterials are especially interesting in comparison to their bulk form due to their tunable physical, chemical, electronic, thermal, mechanical, and optical properties. Carbon‐based nanomaterials fullerene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, carbon dots (CDs) and nanodiamond, have been studied extensively due to their intrinsic properties. Among these, CNTs, graphene, and CDs have attracted tremendous amount of attention for further bioanalytical applications due to their ease of functionalization for detection of analytes of interest. CNTs and graphene are similar in structure where CNTs can be viewed as seamless cylinders rolled by graphene sheets. Despite their electrical and electrochemical properties, these carbon nanomaterials typically requires complicated and costly instrumental setup, specific experimental conditions and synthesis methods such as arc discharge, laser ablation, and chemical vapor deposition. These are not favorable for laboratory settings with limited resources. In view of that, CDs that are easily attainable from renewable sources or waste materials via facile and simple synthesis routes ...