Carbon Dots in Hydroxy Fluorides: Achieving Multicolor Long-Wavelength Room-Temperature Phosphorescence and Excellent Stability via Crystal Confinement

Ping Liang; Yihao Zheng; Xingcai Zhang; Haopeng Wei; Xiaokai Xu; Xianfeng Yang; Huihong Lin; Chaofan Hu; Xuejie Zhang; Bingfu Lei; Wai-Yeung Wong; Yingliang Liu; Jianle Zhuang

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c00603

Carbon Dots in Hydroxy Fluorides: Achieving Multicolor Long-Wavelength Room-Temperature Phosphorescence and Excellent Stability via Crystal Confinement

Nano Lett. 2022 Jul 13;22(13):5127-5136. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c00603. Epub 2022 Jun 14.

Authors

Ping Liang^{1

2}, Yihao Zheng^{1

2}, Xingcai Zhang^{3

4}, Haopeng Wei^{1

2}, Xiaokai Xu^{1

2}, Xianfeng Yang⁵, Huihong Lin⁶, Chaofan Hu^{1

2}, Xuejie Zhang^{1

2}, Bingfu Lei^{1

2}, Wai-Yeung Wong^{7

8}, Yingliang Liu^{1

2}, Jianle Zhuang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Biobased Materials and Energy of Ministry of Education/Guangdong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center for Optical Agriculture, College of Materials and Energy, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, People's Republic of China.
² Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
⁴ School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
⁵ Analytical and Testing Center, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, People's Republic of China.
⁶ School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Hanshan Normal University, Chaozhou 521041, People's Republic of China.
⁷ Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology and Research Institute for Smart Energy, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong People's Republic of China.
⁸ Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 35700100
DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c00603

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) have aroused widespread interest in the construction of room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) materials. However, it is a great challenge to obtain simultaneous multicolor long-wavelength RTP emission and excellent stability in CD-based RTP materials. Herein, a novel and universal "CDs-in-YOHF" strategy is proposed to generate multicolor and long-wavelength RTP by confining various CDs in the Y(OH)_xF_3-x (YOHF) matrix. The mechanism of the triplet emission of CDs is related to the space confinement, the formation of hydrogen bonds and C-F bonds, and the electron-withdrawing fluorine atoms. Remarkably, the RTP lifetime of orange-emissive CDs-o@YOHF is the longest among the reported single-CD-matrix composites for emission above 570 nm. Furthermore, CDs-o@YOHF exhibited higher RTP performance at long wavelength in comparison to CDs-o@matrix (matrix = PVA, PU, urea, silica). The resulting CDs@YOHF shows excellent photostability, thermostability, chemical stability, and temporal stability, which is rather favorable for information security, especially in a complex environment.

Keywords: carbon dots; hydroxy fluorides; information security; room-temperature phosphorescence; stability.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carbon* / chemistry
Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
Fluorides
Quantum Dots* / chemistry
Temperature

Substances

Fluorescent Dyes
Carbon
Fluorides