A Bottom-Up Approach to Synthesizing Carbon-based Quantum Dots
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Grant: IST Fellowship
Leila Asgarkhani
CoPIs:
Nicole Portal
College:
The Dorothy and George Hennings College of Science, Mathematics, and Technology
Major:
Biotechnology
Faculty Research Advisor(s):
Subhasish Chatterjee
Abstract:
As a unique class of zero-dimensional nanomaterials with a size range of less than 10 nm, carbon-based quantum dots (CQDs) exhibit a plethora of beneficial physicochemical properties, including tunable photoluminescence, electrical conductivity, photostability, low toxicity, and biocompatibility. Thus, CQDs are promising candidates for many applications in biotechnology and nanoscience, such as bio-chemical sensing and imaging, drug delivery, photocatalysis, and solar cells. Notably, the exact network of molecular motifs leading to the nanoscale architecture of CQDs with enhanced photoluminescence still needs to be discovered. As we focus on investigating the structural organization and photophysical properties of biocompatible CQDs, our ongoing work involves CQD synthesis via bottom-up approaches that rely on assembling bio-compatible and organic precursors and green chemistry-inspired strategies. Furthermore, we have applied cost-effective and environmentally friendly techniques, including hydrothermal and solvothermal methods, to produce nanomaterials from a combination of amino acid-based precursors and protein sources. Qualitative colorimetric detection confirms the long-term stability of the resulting nanomaterials as we proceed toward comprehensive and high-resolution spectroscopic analyses of the carbon-based quantum dots, along with synergistic computational modeling.