Carbon nanodots as ligand exchange probes in Au@C-dot nanobeacons for fluorescent turn-on detection of biothiols.

Au nanoparticle-carbon dot core-shell (Au@C-dot) nanocomposite was synthesized in aqueous medium at room temperature using the carbon dots as reducing agents themselves. The carbon nanodots also function as an effective stabilizer by forming a thin layer surrounding Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) similar to self-assembled monolayers. Ligand exchange with thiol containing biomolecules resulted in the release of carbon dots from the Au NP surface leading to an enhancement of fluorescence.

Carbon dot reduced palladium nanoparticles as active catalysts for carbon-carbon bond formation.

Carbon dots were used as a reducing agent for the synthesis of Pd nanoparticles coated with ultrathin carbon dot shells of ca. 4 nm. The resulting composite nanoparticles showed high catalytic activity for the Heck and Suzuki coupling reactions.