One-Step Synthesis of Diamine-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots from Graphene Oxide and Their Chelating and Antioxidant Activities

Rabeb El-Hnayn; Laetitia Canabady-Rochelle; Christophe Desmarets; Lavinia Balan; Hervé Rinnert; Olivier Joubert; Ghouti Medjahdi; Hafedh Ben Ouada; Raphaël Schneider

doi:10.3390/nano10010104

One-Step Synthesis of Diamine-Functionalized Graphene Quantum Dots from Graphene Oxide and Their Chelating and Antioxidant Activities

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Jan 4;10(1):104. doi: 10.3390/nano10010104.

Authors

Rabeb El-Hnayn¹, Laetitia Canabady-Rochelle², Christophe Desmarets³, Lavinia Balan^{4

5}, Hervé Rinnert⁶, Olivier Joubert⁶, Ghouti Medjahdi⁶, Hafedh Ben Ouada¹, Raphaël Schneider²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratoire des Interfaces et des Matériaux Avancés, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Avenue de l'Environnement, 5019 Monastir, Tunisia.
² Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés, LRGP, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, F-54000 Nancy, France.
³ Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire UMR-CNRS 8232, Sorbonne Université, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris CEDEX 5, France.
⁴ Institut de Science des Matériaux de Mulhouse (IS2M), CNRS, UMR 7361, 15 rue Jean Starcky, 68093 Mulhouse, France.
⁵ CEMHTI-UPR3079 CNRS, Site Haute Température, 1D avenue de la Recherche Scientifique, 45071 Orléans, France.
⁶ Institut Jean Lamour, Université de Lorraine, CNRS, IJL, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy CEDEX, France.

Abstract

2,2'-(Ethylenedioxy)bis(ethylamine)-functionalized graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were prepared under mild conditions from graphene oxide (GO) via oxidative fragmentation. The as-prepared GQDs have an average diameter of ca. 4 nm, possess good colloidal stability, and emit strong green-yellow light with a photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of 22% upon excitation at 375 nm. We also demonstrated that the GQDs exhibit high photostability and the PL intensity is poorly affected while tuning the pH from 1 to 8. Finally, GQDs can be used to chelate Fe(II) and Cu(II) cations, scavenge radicals, and reduce Fe(III) into Fe(II). These chelating and reducing properties that associate to the low cytotoxicity of GQDs show that these nanoparticles are of high interest as antioxidants for health applications.

Keywords: 2,2’-(ethylenedioxy)bis(ethylamine); graphene quantum dots; optical properties; redox-active nanoparticles.