Self-Matrix N-Doped Room Temperature Phosphorescent Carbon Dots Triggered by Visible and Ultraviolet Light Dual Modes

Huiyong Wang, Hongmei Yu*, Ayman Al-Zubi, Xiuhui Zhu*, Guochao Nie, Shaoyan Wang, Wei Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The synthesis of room temperature phosphorescent carbon dots (RTP-CDs) without any matrix is important in various applications. In particular, RTP-CDs with dual modes of excitation are more interesting. Here, we successfully synthesized matrix-free carbonized polymer dots (CPDs) that can generate green RTP under visible and ultraviolet light dual-mode excitation. Using acrylic acid (AA) and ammonium oxalate as precursors, a simple one-pot hydrothermal method was selected to prepare AA-CPDs. Here, acrylic acid is easy to polymerize under high temperature and high pressure, which makes AA-CPDs form a dense cross-linked internal structure. Ammonium oxalate as a nitrogen source can form amino groups during the reaction, which reacts with a large number of pendant carboxyl groups on the polymer chains to further form a cross-linked structure. The carboxyl and amino groups on the surface of AA-CPDs are connected by intermolecular hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds can provide space protection (isolation of oxygen) around the AA-CPDs phosphor, which can stably excite the triplet state. This self-matrix structure effectively inhibits the non-radiative transition by blocking the intramolecular motion of CPDs. Under the excitation of WLED and 365 nm ultraviolet light, AA-CPDs exhibit the phosphorescence emission at 464 nm and 476 nm, respectively. The naked-eye observation exceeds 5 s and 10 s, respectively, and the average lifetime at 365 nm excitation wavelength is as long as 412.03 ms. In addition, it successfully proved the potential application of AA-CPDs in image anti-counterfeiting.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2210
JournalNanomaterials
Volume12
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2022
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • anti-counterfeiting
  • carbon dots
  • room temperature phosphorescence
  • visible/ultraviolet light excitation

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