Improved citric acid-derived carbon dots synthesis through microwave-based heating in a hydrothermal pressure vessel

Carbon dots (CDs) are a diverse and wide-reaching field of study which encompasses multiple scientific disciplines. This, along with their extensive applications, calls for the need to continually seek to improve their synthesis efficiency. To this end, we focused upon the effects of altering the heating method on the characteristics and quality of the final CD product. In our approach, two different versions of heating techniques were used including the common oven-based hydrothermal method and a microwave (MW)-assisted hydrothermal method. The MW-assisted heating involved the implementation of a pressure vessel (similar to oven hydrothermal vessel) for improved yield of luminescent CDs. We found that this MW method yielded CDs of bright intensity with comparable shape, size, and dispersity to that produced using conventional hydrothermal methods. Specifically, the CDs average particle diameters were determined to be between 1.8 and 2.0 nm for either method. The MW method also demonstrated certain advantages over the oven method in terms of required reaction time and particle yield. The total reaction and cooldown time was reduced by ∼75% (with ideal MW heating time) and an estimation of the average CDs particle density revealed that the MW method was able to produce approximately 1.2 times more particles than the oven method in less time. Correcting for the same processing time, larger yields are available in microwave synthesis. We were able to also demonstrate that both versions of synthesized CDs can serve as viable fluorescence probes for in vitro imaging experiments due to the fact that, under the determined working conditions, their fluorescence emission is significantly greater than that of cell autofluorescence [oven: p = 1.47 × 10^-27 (blue), p = 6.98 × 10^-4 (green); 60 second MW: p = 7.59 × 10^-10 (blue), p = 3.03 × 10^-4 (green)] and the CDs were not cytotoxic. This rapid, simple synthesis approach can be applied to other forms of carbon dots and serves as a high-yield alternative to hydrothermal synthesis.