Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination
Abstract
To explore aggregate-induced emission (AIE) properties, this study adopts a one-pot hydrothermal route for synthesizing polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated graphene quantum dot (GQD) clusters, enabling the emission of highly intense photoluminescence under blue light illumination. The hydrothermal synthesis was performed at 300 °C using o-phenylenediamine as the nitrogen and carbon sources in the presence of PEG. Three different solvents, propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA), ethanol, and water, were used for dispersing the PEG-coated GQDs, where extremely high fluorescent emission was achieved at 530–550 nm. It was shown that the quantum yield (QY) of PEG-coated GQD suspensions is strongly dependent on the solvent type. The pristine GQD suspension tends to be quenched (i.e., QY: ~1%) when dispersed in PGMEA (aggregation-caused quenching). However, coating GQD nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol results in substantial enhancement of the quantum yield. When investigating the photoluminescence emission from PEG-coated GQD clusters, the surface tension of the solvents was within the range of from 26.9 to 46.0 mN/m. This critical index can be tuned for assessing the transition point needed to activate the AIE mechanism which ultimately boosts the fluorescence intensity. The one-pot hydrothermal route established in this study can be adopted to engineer PEG-coated GQD clusters withmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[4];
[1]
- Yuan Ze Univ., Taoyuan (Taiwan). Dept. of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
- Xiamen Univ. of Technology (China). School of Materials Science and Engineering, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Applications
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Electrification and Energy Infrastructure Directorate
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1809957
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; MOST-108-2221-E-155-036-MY3; MOST-109-2221-E-155-053
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nanomaterials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 11; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2079-4991
- Publisher:
- MDPI
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 42 ENGINEERING; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; nitrogen functionalization; graphene quantum dots; photoluminescence; hydrothermal synthesis
Citation Formats
Yang, Po-Chih, Ting, Yu-Xuan, Gu, Siyong, Ashraf Gandomi, Yasser, Li, Jianlin, and Hsieh, Chien-Te. Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination. United States: N. p., 2021.
Web. doi:10.3390/nano11061383.
Yang, Po-Chih, Ting, Yu-Xuan, Gu, Siyong, Ashraf Gandomi, Yasser, Li, Jianlin, & Hsieh, Chien-Te. Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination. United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11061383
Yang, Po-Chih, Ting, Yu-Xuan, Gu, Siyong, Ashraf Gandomi, Yasser, Li, Jianlin, and Hsieh, Chien-Te. Mon .
"Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination". United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11061383. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1809957.
@article{osti_1809957,
title = {Effect of Solvent on Fluorescence Emission from Polyethylene Glycol-Coated Graphene Quantum Dots under Blue Light Illumination},
author = {Yang, Po-Chih and Ting, Yu-Xuan and Gu, Siyong and Ashraf Gandomi, Yasser and Li, Jianlin and Hsieh, Chien-Te},
abstractNote = {To explore aggregate-induced emission (AIE) properties, this study adopts a one-pot hydrothermal route for synthesizing polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated graphene quantum dot (GQD) clusters, enabling the emission of highly intense photoluminescence under blue light illumination. The hydrothermal synthesis was performed at 300 °C using o-phenylenediamine as the nitrogen and carbon sources in the presence of PEG. Three different solvents, propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PGMEA), ethanol, and water, were used for dispersing the PEG-coated GQDs, where extremely high fluorescent emission was achieved at 530–550 nm. It was shown that the quantum yield (QY) of PEG-coated GQD suspensions is strongly dependent on the solvent type. The pristine GQD suspension tends to be quenched (i.e., QY: ~1%) when dispersed in PGMEA (aggregation-caused quenching). However, coating GQD nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol results in substantial enhancement of the quantum yield. When investigating the photoluminescence emission from PEG-coated GQD clusters, the surface tension of the solvents was within the range of from 26.9 to 46.0 mN/m. This critical index can be tuned for assessing the transition point needed to activate the AIE mechanism which ultimately boosts the fluorescence intensity. The one-pot hydrothermal route established in this study can be adopted to engineer PEG-coated GQD clusters with solid-state PL emission capabilities, which are needed for next-generation optical, bio-sensing, and energy storage/conversion devices.},
doi = {10.3390/nano11061383},
journal = {Nanomaterials},
number = 6,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2021},
month = {Mon May 24 00:00:00 EDT 2021}
}
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