This study reports a facile method for the synthesis of multi-enzyme co-embedded organic–inorganic hybrid nanoflowers, using glucose oxidase (GOx) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as the organic components, and Cu₃(PO₄)₂·3H₂O as the inorganic component. The synthesized nanoflowers enable the combination of a two-enzyme cascade reaction in one step, in which the GOx component of the nanoflowers oxidizes glucose to generate H₂O₂, which then reacts with the adjacent HRP component on the nanoflowers to oxidize the chromogenic substrates, resulting in an apparent color change. Given the close proximity of the two enzyme components in a single nanoflower, this novel sensor greatly reduces the diffusion and decomposition of H₂O₂, and greatly enhances the sensitivity of glucose detection. Thus, the obtained multi-enzyme co-embedded organic–inorganic hybrid nanoflowers can be unquestionably used as highly sensitive colorimetric sensors for the detection of glucose. Notably, this work presents a very facile route for the synthesis of multi-enzyme co-embedded nanomaterials for the simultaneous catalysis of multi-step cascade enzymatic reactions. Furthermore, it has great potential for application in biotechnology, and biomedical and environmental chemistry.

Various functional precursors based on polythiophene derivatives are designed to prepare carbon dots (C-dots) with tunable emissions ranging from blue to near-infrared (NIR) at a single excitation wavelength (400 nm). The as-prepared C-dots demonstrate homogeneous size, superior optical properties, excellent water solubility, and low cytotoxicity. Thus, the C-dots are candidates for bio-imaging. A tunable photoluminescence mechanism is proposed to result from variations in the surface state and N content.

This review summarizes and discusses the recent advances and future prospects of carbon dots as nanotheranostic agents for anticancer applications.