Ultrafast chemical aerosol flow synthesis of biocompatible fluorescent carbon dots for bioimaging

A brand new method was successfully developed for the preparation of water-soluble carbon dots (CDs) through a chemical aerosol flow process. This is an ultrafast bottom-up strategy with the advantage of facile separation and purification and can be easily scaled up. In vitro and in vivo biotoxicity tests demonstrated that the CDs are highly biocompatible. Because of the high photostability and biocompatibility, the CDs are well suited for cellular imaging.