Issue 76, 2017, Issue in Progress

Differentiating the impact of nitrogen chemical states on optical properties of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots

Abstract

The optical properties of top-down synthesized oxidized graphene quantum dots (ox-GQDs) and nitrogen-incorporating graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) along a range of hydrothermal treatment temperatures were observed. By controlling the hydrothermal treatment temperature, different chemical states of nitrogen atoms were incorporated into GQDs. Below 150 °C, edge-terminating amines and amides dominated the nitrogen content of N-GQDs. Above 150 °C, nitrogen was primarily present in the forms of pyridinic, pyrrolic and quaternary N. In addition to the absorbance and emission profiles of ox-GQDs and N-GQDs, pH-dependent emission spectra were collected to probe chemical states of nitrogen atoms and investigate the relationship between nitrogen location and photoluminescence.

Graphical abstract: Differentiating the impact of nitrogen chemical states on optical properties of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Aug 2017
Accepted
08 Oct 2017
First published
16 Oct 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 48263-48267

Differentiating the impact of nitrogen chemical states on optical properties of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots

T. Pillar-Little and D. Y. Kim, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 48263 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA09252K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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