Аннотация:Carbon nanomaterials have been attracting the attention of researchers since the 1980s due to their unique properties and the possibility of application in various fields. Usually, carbon nanomaterials are understood as nanodiamonds, fullerenes and carbon nanotubes, however, at present, the term has expanded significantly due to the emergence of various types of carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), which were originally described as luminescent fragments of carbon nanotubes. CNPs are divided into carbon nanodots (cNDs), which have an amorphous structure and do not exhibit quantum size properties, spherical carbon quantum dots (cQDs) and graphene quantum dots (GQD). The widespread production and use of CNPs in various fields, as well as the formation of CNPs as by-products of anthropogenic activities, inevitably leads to environmental pollution. At the same time, their impact on living organisms has not yet been sufficiently studied. In this work, we studied the effect of CNPs synthesized via electrochemical (GQD), hydrothermal (hND), and microwave methods (mND) on the green microalgae Scenedesmus quadricauda (Turp.) Breb. In the presence of CNPs, a decrease in the growth rate of S. quadricauda was observed. Inhibition of cell growth in most cases had a dose-dependent effect, which made it possible to establish a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) for 72 hours for GQD and hND – 3.63 ± 0.8 μM (or 140 ± 30 mg/L) and 1.76 ± 0.21 μM (or 80 ± 10 mg/L), respectively. Unlike GQD and hND, carbon nanoparticles obtained by the microwave method (mND) did not have pronounced dose-dependent effects; therefore, it was not possible to determine the EC50 for this type of CNPs. We have shown that the synthesized CNPs are able to be adsorbed on the algae cell wall due to the large number of functional groups on the surface of the nanoparticles. We did not reveal any specific toxicity of the obtained CNPs, which could be associated with oxidative stress. The photosynthetic activity of microalgae, determined by the maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm), also did not change significantly. The data obtained indicate that the synthesized CNPs do not affect the photochemistry of PSII in the S. quadricauda culture. We believe that the main factor that reduces the growth rate of microalgae in suspension is the limitation of the available light flux due to light absorption by nanoparticles (shading effect). The data obtained can be used to evaluate and predict the interaction of carbon nanoparticles with microalgae cells, which will reduce the adverse impact on aquatic ecosystems in the future.