Realization of solid-state red fluorescence and concentration-induced multicolor emission from N, B co-doped carbon dots

doi:10.1007/s11706-023-0648-6

Front. Mater. Sci.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (2) : 230648 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-023-0648-6

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Realization of solid-state red fluorescence and concentration-induced multicolor emission from N, B co-doped carbon dots

Junli Wang^1,²(

), Jingxia Zheng², Pinyi He³, Qiang Li², Yongzhen Yang²(

), Xuguang Liu⁴, Juanzhi Yan¹, Yi Zhang⁵

¹. Department of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University, Taiyuan 030032, China
². Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials (Ministry of Education), Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
³. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
⁴. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
⁵. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lyuliang University, Lyuliang 033001, China

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Abstract

As a new type of luminescent material, carbon dots (CDs) have attracted increased attention for their superior optical properties in recent years. However, solid-state fluorescent CDs, especially with red emission, are still a major challenge. Here, CDs with solid-state red emission were synthesized by co-doping of N and B using the one-step microwave method. The CD powder exhibits excitation-independent solid-state red fluorescence without any dispersion matrices, with optimum solid-state fluorescence wavelength of 623 nm. The hydrogen bonding interaction in CDs is helpful for solid-state fluorescence of CDs. The I_G/I_D value of CDs reaches up to 3.49, suggesting their very high graphitization degree, which is responsible for their red emission. In addition, CDs show the concentration-induced multicolor emission, which is attributed to the decreased energy gap in the high concentrated CD solution. To exploit their concentration-dependent emission, CDs with changing ratio in matrices are applied as a color-converting layer on ultraviolet chip to fabricate multicolor light-emitting diodes with light coordinates of (0.33, 0.38), (0.41, 0.48), (0.49, 0.44), and (0.67, 0.33), which belong to green, yellow, orange, and red light, respectively.

Keywords carbon dot solid-state red fluorescence concentration-induced multicolor emission N, B co-doping

Corresponding Author(s): Junli Wang,Yongzhen Yang

Issue Date: 26 May 2023

Cite this article:

Junli Wang,Jingxia Zheng,Pinyi He, et al. Realization of solid-state red fluorescence and concentration-induced multicolor emission from N, B co-doped carbon dots[J]. Front. Mater. Sci., 2023, 17(2): 230648.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/10.1007/s11706-023-0648-6
https://academic.hep.com.cn/foms/EN/Y2023/V17/I2/230648

Scheme1 Schematic representation of synthesizing CDs and applying them in the multicolor LED.

Fig.1 (a) TEM (left) and HRTEM (right) images of CDs. (b) Size distribution histogram, (c) XRD pattern, and (d) Raman spectrum of CDs.

Fig.2 (a) FT-IR and (b) XPS full spectra of CDs. (c) C 1s, (d) O 1s, (e) N 1s, and (f) B 1s high-resolution XPS spectra of CDs.

Fig.3 (a) Photos of CD powder under daylight (left) and UV light (right). (b) PL spectra under different excitation wavelengths of CD powder.

Fig.4 (a) UV–vis absorption, excitation, and emission spectra of the CD DMSO solution (0.05 mg·mL^?1) (the inset showing photographs under daylight (left) and UV light (right)). (b) Photos irradiated by sunlight (up) and UV light (down) (unit: mg·mL^?1). (c) Normalized PL spectra, (d) maximum emission peak, and (e) CIE chromaticity diagram of the CD DMSO solution with different concentrations (unit: mg·mL^?1).

Fig.5 (a) Absorption spectra and (b) (αhν)² versus hν curves of the CD DMSO solution with different concentrations and powder. The black lines are the tangents of the curves and the intersection value on the X-axis is the band gap.

Fig.6 Schematic diagram of CDs for their solid-state red emission and concentration-induced multicolor emission.

Fig.7 (a) Change of luminescence intensity irradiated under 365 nm continuous irradiation and (b) TG curve of CD powder.

Fig.8 (a) Emission spectra and (b) CIE coordinates of LEDs prepared using different concentrations of the CD dispersion as fluorescent phosphor combining with UV chip. Insets in panel (a) reveal photographs of working LEDs.

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