Antibacterial and antibiofilm mechanisms of carbon dots: a review
Meizhe Yu, Peili Li, Ruobing Huang, Chunning Xu, Shiyin Zhang, Yanglei Wang, Xuedong Gong, Xiaodong Xing
Abstract
Due to the increasing bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics, developing safe and effective approaches to combat infections caused by bacteria and biofilms has become an urgent clinical problem. Recently, carbon dots (CDs) have received great attention as a promising alternative to conventional antimicrobial agents due to their excellent antimicrobial efficacy and biocompatibility. Although CDs have been widely used in the field of antibacterial applications, their antibacterial and antibiofilm mechanisms have not been systematically discussed. This review provides a systematic overview on the complicated mechanisms of antibacterial and antibiofilm CDs based on recent development.