Overall
- Language
- English
- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received July 9, 2025
Revised September 21, 2025
Accepted October 18, 2025
Available online January 26, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Most Cited
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon-Derived Hydrophilic Carbon Dots as an Excellent NIR-Triggered Phototherapeutic Bactericidal Agent
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00582-2
Abstract
Herein, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, perylene was explored as a carbon source and urea was utilized as N-source for
the synthesis of hydrophilic N-doped carbon dots (PN-CDs), as superior photothermal bactericidal agent. The strategic
development of yellowish-green emissive PN-CDs was carried out following a nitration and carbonization of perylene
via hydrothermal method. The PN-CDs exhibited polychromatic emissions in the range of 500–640 nm when excited at
various excitation wavelength (340–590 nm). However, the maximum emission was located at 543 nm corresponding to
yellowish green at the excitation of 468 nm. The as-prepared PN-CDs demonstrated outstanding photothermal property
when radiated with NIR-light (808 nm), exhibiting photothermal conversion efficiency of ~ 56.6%. The superior NIRradiation
harvesting phenomenon was utilized to neutralize pathogenic bacteria, demonstrating it as a suitable bactericidal
candidate invitro. The efficient antibacterial activity might be due to hyperthermia effect together with amplified reactive
oxygen species causing rupture of bacterial membrane and concomitant leakage of cytoplasmic fluid. This study presents
a possible alternative to image-guided phototherapeutic bactericidal agent.
