Sustainable synthesis of carbon quantum dots from shrimp shell and its emerging applications

Abstract

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are emerging nanomaterials with low-cost manufacturing technologies and highly fluorescent in nature with a wide range of emerging applications. Herein, a waste shrimp shell was utilized for the sustainable synthesis of CQDs via the one-step hydrothermal method. The obtained results showed that the prepared S-CQDs have spherical structures with good fluorescent stability and biocompatibility. Even more, the availability of the C–O–C and C–H functional groups makes it extremely hydrophilic in nature. The synthesized CQDs have quantum yield of about 27.14% against quinine sulfate as a reference standard. Bio-imaging analysis ascertains their intracellular accumulation in nematodes and clearly observable fluorescent imaging for the structure of a model organism. Antibacterial analysis using CQDs reveals good antibacterial activity against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, prepared CQDs are considered as promising bio-imaging and antibacterial agent. © 2022