Harnessing Self‐Assembly in Glucose–Arginine Multifunctional Carbon Dots for Enhanced Antioxidant Activity and Antibacterial Coating Applications

ABSTRACT The emergence of multidrug‐resistant (MDR) bacteria and the persistent formation of biofilms on various medical device surfaces present a serious global health challenge, largely driven by overuse of antibiotics. This challenge necessitates the development of multifunctional antimicrobial materials that can effectively prevent bacterial colonization and biofilm formation. Fluorescent carbon dots have recently gained attention as next‐generation antimicrobial agents due to their excellent biocompatibility, excellent optical properties, and high chemical stability. Despite extensive studies on Cdots, the self‐assembly behavior of these nanoparticles remains largely underexplored, especially in the context of small molecules like amino acids, which are generally used as precursors in the synthesis of Cdots are known to self‐assemble independently. In this study, microwave‐assisted synthesis of nitrogen‐doped Cdots using glucose and L‐arginine has been reported. The synthesized self‐assembled Cdots exhibited strong blue fluorescence and potent antibacterial activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 10 µg/mL against MDR bacterial strains. Further, the self‐assembled behavior of these Cdots was explored for the formation of uniform antibacterial coatings to inhibit bacterial growth over the applied surfaces. Furthermore, the self‐assembled Cdots demonstrated significant antioxidant activity in L929 cell lines and exhibited excellent performance as fluorescent probes for bioimaging applications.