There is a growing need for biocompatible nanocomposites that may efficiently interact with biological tissues through multiple modalities. Carbon dots (CDs) could serve as biocompatible fluorescence nanomaterials for targeted tissue/cell imaging. Important goals toward this end are to enhance the fluorescence quantum yields of the CDs and to increase their targetability to cells. Here, sonochemistry was used to develop a one-pot synthesis of CDs, including metal-doped CDs (M@CDs), demonstrating how various experimental parameters, such as sonication time, temperature, and power of sonication affect the size of the CDs (2–10 nm) and their fluorescence properties. The highest measured quantum yield of emission was ∼16%. Similarly, we synthesized CDs doped with different metals (M@CDs) including Ga, Sn, Zn, Ag, and Au. The interaction of M@CDs with neuron-like cells was examined and showed efficient uptake and low cytotoxicity. Moreover, the influence of the M@CDs on the improvement of neurites during initiation and elongation growth phases were compared with pristine CDs. Our research demonstrates the use of M@CDs for imaging and for neuronal interactions. The M@CD nanocomposites are promising due to their biocompatibility, photo-stability and potential selective affinity, paving the way for multifunctional biomedical applications.

人们越来越需要可以通过多种方式与生物组织有效相互作用的生物相容性纳米复合材料。碳点（CD）可用作目标组织/细胞成像的生物相容性荧光纳米材料。为此目的的重要目标是提高CD的荧光量子产率并提高其对细胞的靶向性。在这里，声波化学被用来开发CD的一锅合成，包括掺杂金属的CD（M @ CD），证明了各种实验参数（如超声处理的时间，温度和超声处理的功率）如何影响CD的大小（ 2–10 nm）及其荧光性质。测得的最高发射量子产率约为16％。同样，我们合成了掺杂有不同金属（M @ CD）的CD，包括Ga，Sn，Zn，Ag和Au。M @ CDs与神经元样细胞的相互作用进行了审查，并显示有效吸收和低细胞毒性。此外，将M @ CDs对原始CD和伸长CDs在起始和伸长生长阶段中神经突改善的影响进行了比较。我们的研究表明M @ CDs用于成像和神经元相互作用。M @ CD纳米复合材料因其生物相容性，光稳定性和潜在的选择性亲和力而很有前途，为多功能生物医学应用铺平了道路。