Luminescent Transparent Wood Based on Lignin-Derived Carbon Dots as a Building Material for Dual-Channel, Real-Time, and Visual Detection of Formaldehyde Gas

Yushan Liu; Haiyue Yang; Chunhui Ma; Sha Luo; Mingcong Xu; Zhenwei Wu; Wei Li; Shouxin Liu

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c10240

Luminescent Transparent Wood Based on Lignin-Derived Carbon Dots as a Building Material for Dual-Channel, Real-Time, and Visual Detection of Formaldehyde Gas

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Aug 12;12(32):36628-36638. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c10240. Epub 2020 Jul 28.

Authors

Yushan Liu^{1

2}, Haiyue Yang¹, Chunhui Ma^{1

2}, Sha Luo^{1

2}, Mingcong Xu^{1

2}, Zhenwei Wu^{1

2}, Wei Li^{1

2}, Shouxin Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Bio-based Material Science & Technology (Northeast Forestry University), Ministry of Education, Harbin 150040, P. R. China.
² Engineering Research Center of Advanced Wooden Materials, Ministry of Education, Harbin 150040, P. R. China.

PMID: 32662973
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c10240

Abstract

Formaldehyde (FA) is a widespread indoor air pollutant, and its efficient detection is a major industrial challenge. The development of a building material with real-time and visual self-detection of FA gas is highly desirable for meeting both construction and human health demands. Herein, a luminescent transparent wood (LTW) as the building material was developed for dual-channel, real-time, and visual detection of FA gas. It was fabricated by encapsulating multicolor lignin-derived carbon dots (CDs) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) into a delignified wood framework. It exhibited 85% optical transmittance, tunable room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP), and ratiometric fluorescence (FL) emission. The tunable luminescence was attributed to different CD graphitization and surface functionalization. The color-responsive ratiometric FL and delayed RTP detections of FA were displayed over the range of 20-1500 μM (R² = 0.966, LOD = 1.08 nM) and 20-2000 μM (R² = 0.977, LOD = 45.8 nM), respectively. The LTW was also used as an encapsulation film on a UV-emitting InGaN chip to form white light-emitting diodes, indicating the feasibility as an FA-responsive planar light source. The operational notion of functional LTW can expand its applications to new fields such as a stimuli-responsive light-transmitting window or planar light sources while monitoring indoor air pollutants, temperature, and humidity.

Keywords: building materials; carbon dots; luminescent transparent wood; ratiometric fluorescence; room-temperature phosphorescence; visual formaldehyde detection; white light-emitting diodes.