Cancer is a disease with complex pathological process. Current chemotherapy faces problems such as lack of specificity, cytotoxicity, induction of multi-drug resistance and stem-like cells growth. Nanomaterials are materials in the nanorange 1–100 nm which possess unique optical, magnetic, and electrical properties. Nanomaterials used in cancer therapy can be classified into several main categories. Targeting cancer cells, tumor microenvironment, and immune system, these nanomaterials have been modified for a wide range of cancer therapies to overcome toxicity and lack of specificity, enhance drug capacity as well as bioavailability. Although the number of studies has been increasing, the number of approved nano-drugs has not increased much over the years. To better improve clinical translation, further research is needed for targeted drug delivery by nano-carriers to reduce toxicity, enhance permeability and retention effects, and minimize the shielding effect of protein corona. This review summarizes novel nanomaterials fabricated in research and clinical use, discusses current limitations and obstacles that hinder the translation from research to clinical use, and provides suggestions for more efficient adoption of nanomaterials in cancer therapy.

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Nanomaterials for cancer therapy: current progress and perspectives.

Photoluminescent carbon nanoparticles, or carbon dots, are an emerging class of materials that has recently attracted considerable attention for biomedical and energy applications. They are defined by characteristic sizes of <10 nm, a carbon-based core and the possibility to add various functional groups at their surface for targeted applications. These nanomaterials possess many interesting physicochemical and optical properties, which include tunable light emission, dispersibility and low toxicity. In this Review, we categorize how chemical tools impact the properties of carbon dots. We look for pre- and postsynthetic approaches for the preparation of carbon dots and their derivatives or composites. We then showcase examples to correlate structure, composition and function and use them to discuss the future development of this class of nanomaterials. This Review discusses synthetic strategies to functionalize photoluminescent carbon nanomaterials, or carbon dots, for targeted applications. 

https://zenodo.org/record/6961902/files/NatNanotechnol_Zenodo.pdf

A multifunctional chemical toolbox to engineer carbon dots for biomedical and energy applications

The light of carbon dots: From mechanism to applications

Multicolor bandgap fluorescent carbon quantum dots (MCBF-CQDs) from blue to red with quantum yield up to 75% are synthesized using a solvothermal method. For the first time, monochrome electroluminescent light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with MCBF-CQDs directly as an active emission layer are fabricated. The maximum luminance of blue LEDs reaches 136 cd m-2 , which is the best performance for CQD-based monochrome electroluminescent LEDs.

Bright Multicolor Bandgap Fluorescent Carbon Quantum Dots for Electroluminescent Light-Emitting Diodes

The synthetic strategies, photoluminescence mechanisms and promising applications of carbon dots: Current state and future perspective

Carbon dots (CDs), as a new type of carbon-based nanomaterial, have attracted broad research interest for years, because of their diverse physicochemical properties and favorable attributes like good biocompatibility, unique optical properties, low cost, ecofriendliness, abundant functional groups (e.g., amino, hydroxyl, carboxyl), high stability, and electron mobility. In this Outlook, we comprehensively summarize the classification of CDs based on the analysis of their formation mechanism, micro-/nanostructure and property features, and describe their synthetic methods and optical properties including strong absorption, photoluminescence, and phosphorescence. Furthermore, the recent significant advances in diverse applications, including optical (sensor, anticounterfeiting), energy (light-emitting diodes, catalysis, photovoltaics, supercapacitors), and promising biomedicine, are systematically highlighted. Finally, we envisage the key issues to be challenged, future research directions, and perspectives to show a full picture of CDs-based materials.

Carbon Dots: A New Type of Carbon-Based Nanomaterial with Wide Applications

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) is an effective method in the field of sterilisation. Singlet oxygen (1O2) is an important substance in photodynamic sterilisation that needs to be detected. It involves energy transfer from an excited photosensitiser to surrounding oxygen molecules to produce cytotoxic 1O2 species, a process termed as type II reaction. Traditional photodynamic sterilisation for fresh produce generally involves only a single photosensitiser and uses nanoemulsions coating to make the photosensitiser work better. This allows the emulsion to produce only a limited amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of light, such that the bactericidal effect is limited. We have innovatively compounded two photosensitisers and stored them as nanoemulsions. The composite photosensitiser produces relatively higher ROS and the nanoemulsions have good stability as well as rheological properties, and the photosensitisers are well coated in the emulsions. In summary, nanoemulsions based on composite photosensitisers showed synergistic activity in controlling the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which provides a novel approach for raw sterilisation to maintain food safety. 

Rui Li

Papers

Carbon Dots: A New Type of Carbon-Based Nanomaterial with Wide Applications

Nanoemulsions loaded with compound photosensitizers: synergistic photodynamic inactivation effects of curcumin and riboflavin tetra butyrate