It is a major challenge to effectively inhibit microbial pathogens in the treatment of infectious diseases. Research on the application of nanomaterials as antibacterial agents has evidenced their great potential for the remedy of infectious disease. Among these nanomaterials, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have attracted much attention owing to their unique optical properties and high biosafety. In this work, P-doped CQDs were prepared by simple hydrothermal treatment of m-aminophenol and phosphoric acid with fluorescence emission at 501 nm when excited at 429 nm. The P-doped CQDs showed effective antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of P-doped CQD were 1.23 mg/mL for E. coli and 1.44 mg/mL for S. aureus. Furthermore, the morphologies of E. coli cells were damaged and S. aureus became irregular when treated with the P-doped CQDs. The results of zeta potential analysis demonstrated that the P-doped CQDs inhibit antibacterial activity and destroy the structure of bacteria by electronic interaction. In combination, the results of this study indicate that the as-prepared P-doped CQDs can be a promising candidate for the treatment of bacterial infections.

中文翻译：

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具有抗菌活性的 P 掺杂碳量子点

有效抑制微生物病原体是治疗传染病的一大挑战。纳米材料作为抗菌剂的应用研究证明了它们在治疗传染病方面的巨大潜力。在这些纳米材料中，碳量子点（CQDs）因其独特的光学特性和高生物安全性而备受关注。在这项工作中，通过对间氨基苯酚和磷酸进行简单的水热处理，制备了 P 掺杂的 CQD，在 429 nm 激发时在 501 nm 处发出荧光。P掺杂的CQDs对大肠杆菌( E.coli )和金黄色葡萄球菌( S.aureus )表现出有效的抗菌活性。）。P 掺杂的 CQD 的最小抑制浓度 (MIC) 对大肠杆菌为 1.23 毫克/毫升，对金黄色葡萄球菌为 1.44 毫克/毫升。此外，当用 P 掺杂的 CQD 处理时，大肠杆菌细胞的形态被破坏，金黄色葡萄球菌变得不规则。zeta电位分析结果表明，P掺杂的CQDs通过电子相互作用抑制抗菌活性并破坏细菌结构。总之，这项研究的结果表明，所制备的 P 掺杂 CQD 可以成为治疗细菌感染的有希望的候选者。