Nanodiamonds – Fluorescent and Imaging Nanoprobes

Abstract

Fluorescent nanodiamonds (NDs) attracted attention as a new promising type of nanoparticles for bioapplications. This carbon nanomaterial with low-toxicity is able to accommodate fluorescent nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) color centers, prime examples of non-photobleachable defects of diamond crystal lattice. An overview of ND applications in bioimaging is presented. NDs are compared with other fluorescent probes and their specific chemical and colloidal properties were shown. The biologically relevant pro­perties of fluorescent NDs such as toxicity, biocompatibi­lity and their cellular localization and internalization are discussed.