Structural evolution of carbon dots during low temperature pyrolysis

Hui  Luo; Leonardo Lari; Hyunjeong  Kim; Servann  Hérou; Liviu Cristian Tanase; Vlado Lazarov; Maria-Magdalena  Titirici

doi:10.1039/d1nr07015k

Structural evolution of carbon dots during low temperature pyrolysis

Hui Luo, Leonardo Lari, Hyunjeong Kim, Servann Hérou, Liviu Cristian Tanase, Vlado Lazarov, Maria-Magdalena Titirici

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging class of photoluminescent material. Their unique optical properties arise from the discrete energy levels in their electronic states, which directly relate to their crystalline and chemical structure. It is expected that when CDs go through structural changes via chemical reduction or thermal annealing, their energy levels will be altered, inducing unique optoelectronic properties such as solid-state photoluminescence (PL). However, the detailed structural evolution and how the optoelectronic characteristics of CDs are affected remain unclear. Therefore, it is of fundamental interest to understand how the structure of CDs prepared by hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) rearranges from a highly functionalised disordered structure into a more ordered graphitic structure. In this paper, detailed structural characterisation and in situ TEM were conducted to reveal the structural evolution of CDs during the carbonisation process, which have demonstrated a growth in aromatic domains and reduction in oxidation sites. These structural features are correlated with their near-infrared (NIR) solid-state PL properties, which may find a lot of practical applications such as temperature sensing, solid-state display lighting and anti-counterfeit security inks.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	910-918
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nanoscale
Volume	14
Issue number	3
Early online date	25 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d1nr07015k
Publication status	Published - 21 Jan 2022

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Structural evolution of carbon dots during low temperature pyrolysisFinal published version, 3.54 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Structural evolution of carbon dots during low temperature pyrolysis",

abstract = "Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging class of photoluminescent material. Their unique optical properties arise from the discrete energy levels in their electronic states, which directly relate to their crystalline and chemical structure. It is expected that when CDs go through structural changes via chemical reduction or thermal annealing, their energy levels will be altered, inducing unique optoelectronic properties such as solid-state photoluminescence (PL). However, the detailed structural evolution and how the optoelectronic characteristics of CDs are affected remain unclear. Therefore, it is of fundamental interest to understand how the structure of CDs prepared by hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) rearranges from a highly functionalised disordered structure into a more ordered graphitic structure. In this paper, detailed structural characterisation and in situ TEM were conducted to reveal the structural evolution of CDs during the carbonisation process, which have demonstrated a growth in aromatic domains and reduction in oxidation sites. These structural features are correlated with their near-infrared (NIR) solid-state PL properties, which may find a lot of practical applications such as temperature sensing, solid-state display lighting and anti-counterfeit security inks.",

author = "Hui Luo and Leonardo Lari and Hyunjeong Kim and Servann H{\'e}rou and Tanase, {Liviu Cristian} and Vlado Lazarov and Maria-Magdalena Titirici",

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doi = "10.1039/d1nr07015k",

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T1 - Structural evolution of carbon dots during low temperature pyrolysis

AU - Luo, Hui

AU - Lari, Leonardo

AU - Kim, Hyunjeong

AU - Hérou, Servann

AU - Tanase, Liviu Cristian

AU - Lazarov, Vlado

AU - Titirici, Maria-Magdalena

PY - 2022/1/21

Y1 - 2022/1/21

N2 - Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging class of photoluminescent material. Their unique optical properties arise from the discrete energy levels in their electronic states, which directly relate to their crystalline and chemical structure. It is expected that when CDs go through structural changes via chemical reduction or thermal annealing, their energy levels will be altered, inducing unique optoelectronic properties such as solid-state photoluminescence (PL). However, the detailed structural evolution and how the optoelectronic characteristics of CDs are affected remain unclear. Therefore, it is of fundamental interest to understand how the structure of CDs prepared by hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) rearranges from a highly functionalised disordered structure into a more ordered graphitic structure. In this paper, detailed structural characterisation and in situ TEM were conducted to reveal the structural evolution of CDs during the carbonisation process, which have demonstrated a growth in aromatic domains and reduction in oxidation sites. These structural features are correlated with their near-infrared (NIR) solid-state PL properties, which may find a lot of practical applications such as temperature sensing, solid-state display lighting and anti-counterfeit security inks.

AB - Carbon dots (CDs) are an emerging class of photoluminescent material. Their unique optical properties arise from the discrete energy levels in their electronic states, which directly relate to their crystalline and chemical structure. It is expected that when CDs go through structural changes via chemical reduction or thermal annealing, their energy levels will be altered, inducing unique optoelectronic properties such as solid-state photoluminescence (PL). However, the detailed structural evolution and how the optoelectronic characteristics of CDs are affected remain unclear. Therefore, it is of fundamental interest to understand how the structure of CDs prepared by hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) rearranges from a highly functionalised disordered structure into a more ordered graphitic structure. In this paper, detailed structural characterisation and in situ TEM were conducted to reveal the structural evolution of CDs during the carbonisation process, which have demonstrated a growth in aromatic domains and reduction in oxidation sites. These structural features are correlated with their near-infrared (NIR) solid-state PL properties, which may find a lot of practical applications such as temperature sensing, solid-state display lighting and anti-counterfeit security inks.

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