A red emitting carbon dot and aptamer-functionalized alginate system for targeted triple-negative breast cancer imaging

The targeted detection of cancer cells is crucial for tumour diagnosis and therapeutic treatment. Recently, luminescent carbon dots have generated wide interest in biomedical applications, thanks to their unique properties such as biocompatibility, tuneable emission, water solubility and the possibility of surface functionalization. Herein, we report the conjugation of red emitting carbon dots (RCDs) to alginate and the sTN58 aptamer to obtain systems able to selectively recognize cancer cells that can be exploited in bioimaging and potentially as photothermal agents.