Mulberry‐Leaves‐Derived Red‐Emissive Carbon Dots for Feeding Silkworms to Produce Brightly Fluorescent Silk

Fluorescent silk has promising applications in dazzling textiles, biological engineering, and medical products, but the natural Bombyx mori silk has almost no fluorescence. Here carbon dots (CDs) made from mulberry leaves are reported, which have a strong near-infrared fluorescence with absolute quantum yield of 73% and a full width at half maximum of 20 nm. After feeding with such CDs, silkworms exhibit bright red fluorescence, grow healthily, cocoon normally, and turn to moths finally. The cocoons are pink in daylight and show bright red fluorescence under ultraviolet light. After breaking out of such cocoons, the red-emissive moths can mate and lay fluorescent eggs which would hatch normally. The growth…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China

  Awards: 21771039, 21975048
• SA
  Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality