Carbon Dots for Killing Microorganisms: An Update since 2019

Abstract

Frequent bacterial/fungal infections and occurrence of antibiotic resistance pose increasing threats to the public and thus require the development of new antibacterial/antifungal agents and strategies. Carbon dots (CDs) have been well demonstrated to be promising and potent antimicrobial nanomaterials and serve as potential alternatives to conventional antibiotics. In recent years, great efforts have been made by many researchers to develop new carbon dot-based antimicrobial agents to combat microbial infections. Here, as an update to our previous relevant review (C 2019, 5, 33), we summarize the recent achievements in the utilization of CDs for microbial inactivation. We review four kinds of antimicrobial CDs including nitrogen-doped CDs, metal-containing CDs, antibiotic-conjugated CDs, and photoresponsive CDs in terms of their starting materials, synthetic route, surface functionalization, antimicrobial ability, and the related antimicrobial mechanism if available. In addition, we summarize the emerging applications of CD-related antimicrobial materials in medical and industry fields. Finally, we discuss the existing challenges of antimicrobial CDs and the future research directions that are worth exploring. We believe that this review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent advances in antimicrobial CDs and may inspire the development of new CDs with desirable antimicrobial activities.

Cytotoxicity and resistance evolution of a novel antifungal carbon nanoparticle

“…One of the techniques is doping with heteroatoms such as boron, sulfur, nitrogen, iodine, etc (36,38). Another method includes conjugating CDs with metals such as gold (39) and using both toxic and non-toxic chemicals as precursors for synthesizing antifungal CDs (51)(52)(53). However, most tests have used high concentration of drugs and have only performed short term cytotoxic assays.…”

Nanocellulose-Based Passivated-Carbon Quantum Dots (P-CQDs) for Antimicrobial Applications: A Practical Review

“…The oxygenous characteristic of carbon quantum dots makes covalent bonding with functionalizing chemicals possible. CQDs have numerous applications in industrial fields [34] due to their enormous surface area, high electric conductivity, and quick electric charge transfer, as well as high physiochemical properties including crystallization, dispersibility in different liquids, and photoluminescence. In particular, the small size, superconductivity, and rapid electron transfer of CQDs endow the CQDs-based composites with improved electric conductivity and catalytic activity.…”

“…The CQDs were reported to have medicinal therapeutic effects [ 15 , 16 , 24 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. It was indicated that all these biomass-derived CQDs contain the nitrogen element, which might be from the proteins, amino acids, and nucleic acids in the biomass [ 34 ]. Furthermore, metal-containing CQDs ( Figure 3 ) are divided into four types that can be used as antimicrobial agents: metal ion-doped CQDs, metal nanoparticle-decorated CQDs, CD/metal oxide nanocomposites, and CQD/metal sulfide nanocomposites [ 34 ].…”

Rutin-Loaded Carbon Dots for Management of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Lung Infection

“…Carbon dots (CDs) are carbon-based nanoparticles with diameters of 2–10 nm that possess functionalized surfaces. − CDs have numerous advantages over other nanoparticle classes because of their easy preparation, stable fluorescence, and good water stability and biocompatibility. , CDs have been used in the biomedical field as carriers of pharmacologic drugs and antibacterial agents. − For instance, CDs synthesized from p -phenylenediamine and polyethylenimine can effectively reduce wound infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus . CDs were also able to overcome the photoinstability of curcumin, and curcumin-loaded CDs enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation via fluorescence resonance energy transfer to achieve efficient antibacterial activity .…”