Self-Assembled Carbon Dot Nanosphere: A Robust, Near-Infrared Light-Responsive, and Vein Injectable Photosensitizer.

Self-assembly "activated" carbon dot photosensitizer: a robust, NIR-light responsive, and vein injectable carbon dot nanosphere (CDNS) photosensitizer with 1 O2 quantum yield of 0.45 under 671 nm laser irradiation has been developed through self-assembly using individual CD as building units. This study develops the biomedical applications of CD, highlights the self-assembly for designing well-defined CD-based photosensitizers, and promotes future explorations of this CDNS photosensitizer in nanomedical and clinical applications.