Na+-functionalized carbon dots with aggregation-induced and enhanced cyan emission

Yingfang Tao; Jie Lin; Deyin Wang; Yuhua Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.12.104

Na⁺-functionalized carbon dots with aggregation-induced and enhanced cyan emission

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Apr 15:588:469-475. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.12.104. Epub 2020 Dec 31.

Authors

Yingfang Tao¹, Jie Lin¹, Deyin Wang², Yuhua Wang³

Affiliations

¹ National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Light-conversion Materials and Technology & Key Laboratory for Special Function Materials and Structural Design of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
² National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Light-conversion Materials and Technology & Key Laboratory for Special Function Materials and Structural Design of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: wangdy@lzu.edu.cn.
³ National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Light-conversion Materials and Technology & Key Laboratory for Special Function Materials and Structural Design of the Ministry of Education, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: wyh@lzu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33429343
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.12.104

Abstract

A new type of carbon dots that emit blue emission in aqueous state while cyan emission in solid state was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. The photoluminescence quantum yield of the carbon dots in aqueous state and solid state is 7.6% and 29.2%, respectively. The enhanced and red-shifted emission observed in solid state carbon dots is ascribed to surface state change caused by aggregation. The occurrence of surface state change in solid state carbon dots has been evidenced by concentration dependent steady-state photoluminecence spectra and time-resolved luminescence decay. Surface functionalization by Na⁺ is beneficial for carbon dots to resist luminescence quenching in solid state. A proof-of-concept study was performed to demonstrate the potential application of the obtained carbon dots as inks for anti-counterfeiting and printing high quality fluorescent images.

Keywords: Aggregation Induced Emission; Carbon dots; Hydrothermal; Self-quenching resistant.