Nanostructured materials have attracted a great deal of interest in recent years and their number of proposed applicationshas significantly increased. Their use in biological environments has become a ‘hot’ topic due to the lack of understanding of the complex interplay between nanoparticles distribution and biological exploits. Several
potential applications have in fact been proposed, such as drug delivery, cancer therapy, localized heating, and biological
probes. All these uses are supported by scientific reports and papers that assess nanomaterials' viabilities
and outstanding properties. However, when the bridge from proof of concept to real-world product needs to
be crossed, as human beings are involved, the requirements for material characterization become very stringent.
Without thorough characterization, in fact, it is not possible to check nanoparticles' reproducibility and hence
assess that they will behave in the same way with respect to the desired application, as well as their biocompatibility.
In this talk, we will focus on carbon dots, i.e., carbon-based almost 0-d (the size of a few nm) nanostructures. Carbon
dots can be produced in different ways, in some cases beginning with naturally derived chemicals like citric acid and
urea. After providing a brief description of a few routes that can be used to produce carbon dots, we will focus on their structural composition
in order to establish a strong correlation between their chemical features and physiochemical properties.