Synthesis of blue and green emitting carbon-based quantum dots (CBQDs) and their cell viability against colon and bladder cancer cell lines.

• We reported two different carbon-based quantum dots (CBQDs). • CBQDs showed good photoluminescence when excited from ultraviolet to near infrared region. • The emission wavelength of CBQDs can be tuned from 420 and 540 nm. • High quantum yields of 45.49 and 44.29% were achieved. • Both CBQDs showed good cell viability towards two different cell lines. We herein report the synthesis of blue and green emitting carbon-based quantum dots (CBQDs). The materials displayed good photoluminescence (PL) emission when excited from ultraviolet (UV) to near infrared (NIR) region and quantum yield of 45.49 and 44.29% for the blue and green CBQDs respectively. The structural characterizations confirmed that the as-synthesized materials are small, spherical in shape and highly crystalline. The cell viability study against mouse colon carcinoma (C26) and mouse bladder carcinoma (MBT-2) cells showed concentration dependent biocompatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]