Dual functional carbon dots derived from cornflour via a simple one-pot hydrothermal route

•Fluorescent carbon nanodots with good water-solubility have been successfully synthesized via a facile one-step hydrothermal method.•The carbon source is green, eco-friendly cornflour, which thus can be considered as bio-safe.•The obtained CDs can be applied to both cell imaging and Cu2+ detecting.

Highly Photoluminescent (PL) carbon dots (CDs) with a PL quantum yield (PLQY) of 7.7% have been prepared from cornflour by a simple hydrothermal method. The as-prepared carbon dots have good water solubility, well distributed particle size, amorphous structure and acceptable fluorescence lifetime. Besides, due to the fairly good biocompatibility and outstanding fluorescent properties, the CDs were successfully applied to cell imaging and Cu2+ detecting.

Graphical abstractDual functional carbon dots derived from cornflour via a simple one-pot hydrothermal route.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide