Stable and Photoswitchable Carbon-Dot Liposome.

Carbon-dot (C-dot) liposome consisting of several thousands of C-dots shows interesting photoswitching properties. The water-dispersible C-dot liposome possesses intrinsic photoluminescence (PL) and is stable against salt and photoirradiation. The PL of C-dot liposome can be turned off and then on under photoirradiation over the wavelength regions of 510-540 nm and 365-420 nm, respectively. Like reported C-dots, the C-dot liposome emits various colors when excited at different wavelengths. Having great stability and high contrast, images of individual C-dot liposome have been recorded, showing negligible photoblinking. Through a simple photolithographic approach, micropatterns of C-dot liposomes emitting different colors have been fabricated.