Bright luminescent hydrophobic carbon dots receive significant attention on account of their potential utility in bio‐imaging, sensors, and creating a full range of colors in displays. Herein, the solvothermal one‐pot synthesis of nitrogen and sulfur‐doped hydrophobic carbon dots (HCDs) from a single precursor, is reported. These HCDs exhibit good dispersibility in different organic solvents and show blue fluorescence in solid and solution states. Notably, HCDs show green color room temperature phosphorescence emission centered at 515 nm with a long average lifetime of 1.1 ms and an ultralong lifetime of 334 ms at 77 K. An intense white light with Commission international de d'Eclairage chromaticity coordinate of (0.32, 0.34) is generated by a simple mixing of HCDs with rhodamine 6G in the solution state. Furthermore, these HCDs are explored for the rapid detection of extremely hazardous and strong explosive picric acid in a non‐aqueous solution with a limit of detection of 3.2 µm and good selectivity.
Organic-inorganic nanocomposite self-standing films of GdGaAlO (GGAG) uniformly dispersed in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene polymer are prepared for radiography application. GGAG:Ce nanoscintillator has been chosen because of its high light output and fast decay time. The nanopowder of GGAG is synthesized by coprecipitation method and dispersed in the polymer matrix by a simple blending technique. The nanocomposite films of thickness in the range of 150-450 μm with a very high inorganic content is achieved by this technique. These films are characterized by their uniformity, optical absorption, photoluminescence, and radioluminescence. These films are further tested for their application in radiography by recording X-ray images using a commercially available charge-coupled device camera. A resolution of 10 lp/mm is obtained using GGAG:PMMA composite film with 50% loading, confirming their application in imaging devices.
Natural polymers, such as polysaccharides and polypeptides, are potential candidates to serve as carriers of biomedical cargo. Natural polymer-based carriers, having a core–shell structural configuration, offer ample scope for introducing multifunctional capabilities and enable the simultaneous encapsulation of cargo materials of different physical and chemical properties for their targeted delivery and sustained and stimuli-responsive release. On the other hand, carriers with a porous matrix structure offer larger surface area and lower density, in order to serve as potential platforms for cell culture and tissue regeneration. This review explores the designing of micro- and nano-metric core–shell capsules and porous spheres, based on various functions. Synthesis approaches, mechanisms of formation, general- and function-specific characteristics, challenges, and future perspectives are discussed. Recent advances in protein-based carriers with a porous matrix structure and different core–shell configurations are also presented in detail.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.