Green synthesis of multicolour fluorescence carbon quantum dots from sugarcane waste: Investigation of mercury (II) ion sensing, and bio-imaging applications

Abstract

Initial identification is important in the predictive strategy of many life-threatening ailments, such as infectious diseases and cancer. These diseases' mortality rates could be significantly reduced if they were detected in the early stages of disease development. Natural carbon quantum dots (NCQDs) a new type of carbon-based nanomaterial have sparked the interest of researchers for many years in biomedical applications. The eco-friendly and cost-effective hydrothermal synthesis of fluorescent CQDs utilizing sugarcane baggage as a carbon source is discussed in this study. The RAMAN and XRD analysis confirmed the graphitic nature of CQDs. The FTIR, and XPS demonstrate the presence of functional groups such as CO, CC, and CN, hence it's regarded as CQDs. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) findings exhibiting that the synthesized CQDs are predominantly monodispersed spherical in shape, with particle sizes ranging from 2 to 8 nm. It is used to develop a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective fluorescent probe for detecting Hg2+ ions. MCF-7 cells were used to test cancer cell lines, which showed significant bio-labeling capacity and low cytotoxicity. The cell viabilities of the MCF-7 cells were assessed. As a result of their low cytotoxicity and good biocompatibility, we used the synthesized CQDs as an efficient fluorescent probe for multicolour live-cell imaging.