Luminescent Carbon Dots from Wet Olive Pomace: Structural Insights, Photophysical Properties and Cytotoxicity
Diogo A. Sousa,
Luís F. V. Ferreira,
Alexander A. Fedorov,
Ana M. B. do Rego,
Ana M. Ferraria,
Adriana B. Cruz,
Mário N. Berberan-Santos,
José V. Prata
Affiliations
Diogo A. Sousa
Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisbon, Portugal
Luís F. V. Ferreira
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Alexander A. Fedorov
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Ana M. B. do Rego
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Ana M. Ferraria
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Adriana B. Cruz
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Mário N. Berberan-Santos
BSIRG-iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, and Associate Laboratory i4HB—Institute for Health and Bioeconomy, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
José V. Prata
Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisbon, Portugal
Carbon nanomaterials endowed with significant luminescence have been synthesized for the first time from an abundant, highly localized waste, the wet pomace (WP), a semi-solid by-product of industrial olive oil production. Synthetic efforts were undertaken to outshine the photoluminescence (PL) of carbon nanoparticles through a systematic search of the best reaction conditions to convert the waste biomass, mainly consisting in holocellulose, lignin and proteins, into carbon dots (CDs) by hydrothermal carbonization processes. Blue-emitting CDs with high fluorescence quantum yields were obtained. Using a comprehensive set of spectroscopic tools (FTIR, Raman, XPS, and 1H/13C NMR) in combination with steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, a rational depiction of WP-CDs structures and their PL properties was reached. WP-CDs show the up-conversion of PL capabilities and negligible cytotoxicity against two mammalian cell lines (L929 and HeLa). Both properties are excellent indicators for their prospective application in biological imaging, biosensing, and dynamic therapies driven by light.
