Insight into the DNA adsorption on nitrogen-doped positive carbon dots.

Considerable biosensors have been fabricated on the basis of DNA interaction with carbon nanomaterials, such as graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. Few studies have focused on the rational design of sensors between carbon dots (CDs) and DNA due to the limited understanding of the real forces behind the adsorption of DNA on CDs. In this work, nitrogen doping-positive CDs (N-CDs), which can quench fluorophore-labeled DNA, were investigated to ascertain the interaction between the CDs and DNA.