Nitrogen-Doped Biocompatible Carbon Dot as a Fluorescent Probe for STORM Nanoscopy

Fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) have got tremendous applications in bioimaging, molecular sensing, light harvesting, photovoltaics, catalysis, and drug delivery. This is mainly due to the superior photostability, high quantum yield, aqueous solubility, and low toxicity. However, super resolution nanoscopy using CD has rarely been reported. Here, we report the super-resolution image down to ∼64 nm in the actin filament and in the self-assembled soft matter polymeric ring structure. The photon counts, on–off duty cycles, and the number of switching cycles were good enough to get such a high resolution. This opens up a new door to the realm of application of CD in live-cell nanoscopy.