Engineering the functional surface of carbon dots for antibacterial, bacterial bioimaging and sensing applications

The significant threat to human health and the social economy posed by bacterial infections underscores the pressing need to develop safe and effective methods for detecting and combating bacteria. The design of appropriate nanomaterials is an effective strategy for facilitating the diagnosis and eradication of bacteria. Among nanoparticles, carbon dots (CDs) have garnered significant attention as potential nanomaterials because of their unique optical and physicochemical properties. In particular, the surface of CDs is structurally versatile and can be modified, providing a viable strategy for tailoring their surface to enhance interactions with bacterial cells and develop more potent applications. In this review, we will begin with a brief introduction to CDs. This is followed by an introduction to the targeting mechanisms between CDs and bacteria, including hydrophilic or hydrophobic interactions, electrostatic interactions, and ligand-receptor interactions. After clarifying the mechanisms, we will focus on various strategies for customizing the CDs for bacterial targeting. We then specifically focus on the research progress of surface modifications for the development of antibacterial CDs and the applications of CDs in bacterial bioimaging and sensing. Furthermore, the challenges and future directions of CDs are discussed, with the aim of providing comprehensive knowledge to clarify the structure-activity relationship of CDs for bacterial targeting. The significant threat to human health and the social economy posed by bacterial infections underscores the pressing need to develop safe and effective methods for detecting and combating bacteria.