Development of luminescent carbon nanoparticles for authentication of petroleum products and investigation of phototherapy potential of nanoparticles

Nanomaterials were exploited in many engineered materials since their properties can be controlled and modified by tunning their size. The relatively new member of the nanomaterials portfolio is the luminescent carbon dots (CD) which are more or less considered biocompatible, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. However, the development of CDs with different luminescence properties can be challenging. In this thesis, the effects of small organic precursors, N-, O-, P- doping, and solvent (polarity and reducing power) on the emission wavelength of CDs were investigated. In literature, most CDs have blue emission. Examples to CDs with different emission colors exist, yet most of them have major drawbacks such as non-reproducibility, low colloidal stability. A portfolio of colloidally stable, reproducible, easily manufactured CDs to address these disadvantages was developed in this thesis. The second part of the thesis focuses on using CDs in the authentication of petroleum products as photostable optical tags. In the third part of the thesis, one of the most popular photosensitizers, BODIPY, was loaded to highly biocompatible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for enhanced delivery of BODIPY to cancer cells and achieve highly selective and enhanced photodynamic therapy. Lastly, the phototherapy potential of aqueous red-emitting CD produced in this thesis was investigated.