Labeling of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells by hexamethylene diamine modified fluorescent carbon dots

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) were synthesized by a solvothermal method with glucose as carbon source and surface-modified with 1,6-hexamethylene diamine. The as prepared CDs possess strong luminescence, small particle sizes (Fig. A(b) and (c)) and link with goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin (IgG) to successfully label fixed human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Fig. C). The cytotoxicity of these CDs were also tested using the human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. No apparent cytotoxicity was observed, which suggested the potential application of the as-prepared CDs in bioimaging (Fig. B).