Carbon dots: The next generation platform for biomedical applications

Among the wide range of carbon family nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) one of the promising candidate which has attracted tremendous attention due to its unique advantages such as facile synthesis procedure, easy surface functionalization, outstanding water solubility, low toxicity and excellent photo-physical properties. Due to these unique advantages, CDs are extensively used in catalysis, electronics, sensing, power as well as in biological sectors. In this review we will discuss recent progress in synthesis, structure and fluorescence properties of CDs with special highlight on its biomedical applications, more precisely we will highlight on CDs, for drug/gene delivery, bioimaging and photothermal and photodynamic therapy applications. Furthermore, we discuss the current challenges and future perspective of CDs in the field of biomedical sector.