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N, S co-doped carbon dots with high quantum yield: tunable fluorescence in liquid/solid and extensible applications

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Abstract

A set of the highly fluorescent N, S co-doped carbon dots (NSCDs) were prepared through one-step hydrothermal synthesis at different temperature with citric acid as the carbon source and cysteamine as the N, S source. The NSCDs synthesized at 200 °C show significant quantum yield (81%) due to its optimal structure. The structure of the NSCDs changed with varying degrees of carbonization/aromatization and different content of multifunctional groups of C=O, −NH2, −OH, −SH, and N, S-aromatic heterocycte under different preparation temperatures, thus exhibiting tunable fluorescence. Especially, the obtained NSCDs exhibited a blue fluorescence in solution state and changed from strong blue to yellowish-green in its solid state under UV light as a result of the increase in preparation temperature. The as-prepared NSCDs can be used in selective detection of complex anions such as Cr2O7 2− and Fe(CN)6 3−, cell imaging, and preparation of fluorescent composite films.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Life Sciences, Key Laboratory of High Performance Polymer Materials and Technology (Nanjing University), Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210046, People’s Republic of China

    Mei Yang, Xinlei Meng, Baoyan Li, Shusheng Ge & Yun Lu

Authors
  1. Mei Yang
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  2. Xinlei Meng
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  3. Baoyan Li
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  4. Shusheng Ge
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  5. Yun Lu
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Correspondence to Yun Lu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21374046), Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials (SKLSSM201718) and the Testing Foundation of Nanjing University.

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Yang, M., Meng, X., Li, B. et al. N, S co-doped carbon dots with high quantum yield: tunable fluorescence in liquid/solid and extensible applications. J Nanopart Res 19, 217 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-3914-7

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