Tailoring Fluorescence Emissions, Quantum Yields, and White Light Emitting from Nitrogen-doped Graphene and Carbon Nitride Quantum Dots

Gu, Siyong; Hsieh, Chien -Te; Gandomi, Yasser Ashraf; Li, Jianlin; Yue, Xing Xing; Chang, Jeng -Kuei

doi:10.1039/C9NR05422G

Title: Tailoring Fluorescence Emissions, Quantum Yields, and White Light Emitting from Nitrogen-doped Graphene and Carbon Nitride Quantum Dots

Journal Article · 16 August 2019 · Nanoscale

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NR05422G · OSTI ID:1558496

Gu, Siyong ^[1]; Hsieh, Chien -Te ^[2]; Gandomi, Yasser Ashraf ^[3];

^[4]; Yue, Xing Xing ^[5]; Chang, Jeng -Kuei ^[6]

Xiamen Univ. of Technology, Xiamen (China)
Yuan Ze Univ., Taoyuan (Taiwan); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology, Nanjing (China)
National Chiao Tung Univ., Hsinchu (Taiwan)

Highly fluorescent N-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) and graphitic carbon nitride quantum dots (CNQDs, g-C₃N₄) were synthesized using a solid-phase microwave-assisted (SPMA) technique. The SPMA method, based on the pyrolysis of citric acid and urea with different recipes, is capable of producing quantum dots with coexisting NGQDs and CNQDs at 280°C within only five minutes. The photoluminescence (PL) emissions from NGQD and CNQDs are strongly dependent on excitation wavelength and the solvent type, i.e., water, ethanol, and N-methyl pyrrolidinone. The unique design of the quantum dots possesses a multiple chromophoric band-gap structure, originated from the presence of g-C₃N₄, defect-related emissive traps, and grain boundaries. Thus, an appropriate excitation wavelength induces a conjugated π electron system to fulfill the most probable absorption band, resulting in wavelength-dependent emissions including ultraviolet, visible and infrared light. Here, the quantum yield of the NGQD and CNQD samples can attain as high as 68.1%. Accordingly, one light-emitting device using the combination of the NGQD and CNQD powders embedded polymeric film can emit white-like light with high power conversion efficiency.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1558496

Journal Information:: Nanoscale, Journal Name: Nanoscale Journal Issue: 35 Vol. 11; ISSN NANOHL; ISSN 2040-3364

Publisher:: Royal Society of ChemistryCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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